By Francis Ogbuagu,Benin City
A university lecturer,Dr Lawrence Edemhanria on Wednesday, identified endless unfulfilled promises by Nigerian politicians as reasons behind the EndSARS protest that engulfed the Nigerian state recently.
He made this assertion in Benin City,Edo State at a 3 day workshop organized for CSOs and media workers by African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) in conjunction with the Switz Embassy in Nigeria.
According to him,”Nigerian politicians don’t learn their lessons, they make all maner of promises during campaigns,like “I will fix power within six months”, “I will make the naira equal to a dollar.” But these things do not happen, and that caused the outcry that gave birth to the protest.
He also said that full implementation of budget allocation on human capital development and transparency in public spending are key elements that can stem the tide of illegal migration and youths restiveness.
Hear him, ” You know our politicians don’t learn their lessons, during campaigns, you hear them say,”we ‘ ll fix power within six months, we will make one naira equal to one dollar “, and nothing happens,I think that is what was responsible for the general outcry.
“The EndSARS protest started from police brutality,some bad eggs in the Nigerian Police Force, especially the SARS arm,even during the Protest,there were some Officers,one in Anambra State, where the youths gathered and a police officer addressed them and nothing happened. It is a complex situation,there is much gap in terms of education, training. We have a lot of youths turned in year- in – year- out from universities and other institutions and no jobs.It is because of the nature of Nigerian economy,we still heavily depend on public infrastructure, poorly developed manufacturing and industrial sector. Corruption and other things. These were responsible for EndSARS protest.
“Ideally, if the government has been
Earlier in his speech , the Executive Director of ANEEJ,Rev David Ugolor(represented by the Deputy Director,Leo Akpata) said the objectives of ANEEJ was to equip the civil society organizations with the knowledge to advocate for changes in current approaches in combating irregular migration through advocacy for human capital development, budget monitoring/ public spending,anti- corruption, good governance, policies and programmes.
He emphasized the need for an overview and evaluation of the Edo State Government budget and provision for human capital development over the past three years and a review of the structures of existing human capital development and interventions in the State.
According to him, “One of the project objectives is to provide Civil Society Organizations with the knowledge to advocate for change in current approaches in combating irregular migration through advocacy for human capital development, budget monitoring, public spending,anti corruption, good governance, policies and programmes.”
“This workshop is coming few days after Mr Goodwin Obaseki, committed to put better part and effort of his second tenure to human capital development, with a view to building on efforts laid in his first tenure.
“Holding the governor accountable to this commitment is the responsibility of civil societies and media actors in the state.” He said.
In her words,the Director of Fullness of Life, Counseling and Development,Rev Sister Florence Nwanuma said, if government had done what it was supposed to do on human capital development,the EndSARS protest wouldn’t have occurred at the first place, she pleaded with government at all levels to always release budget allocation for it’s purpose, especially in human capital development.
In attendance for the three days workshop were civil society organizations, Journalists and other stakeholders.
