Youth and religious leaders in Karu local government area of Nasarawa State have appealed to organisers of the proposed nationwide protest slated for August 1 to shelve the idea.

They urged the planners to rather embrace duologue, saying protest would further aggravate the current hardship and draw the country backward.

They made the call at a joint press conference at the headquarters of the local government yesterday.

The youth leader, Comrade Samuel Mami, who spoke on behalf of his members, said Nigeria was not ripe for a protest in the magnitude the planners of the August 1 event are planning, pointing out that history had shown that such moves had resulted in chaos, unrest and consequent loss of lives and properties in some African countries.

He said the planned protest was ill-conceived, especially that the Tinubu administration had been working to address the same challenges adduced as reasons for the move.

Comrade Mami added that what the youths need to do is to support the president and give him the much-needed advice to help him move the country on the path of development and growth instead of ploughing it into a needless unrest through protest.

He said youths in Karu local government area and by extension Nasarawa State would not tow such path even as he pledged their unalloyed support for the president.

In their separate remarks, the chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Karu local government area, Dr. Joshua Dakulu, and secretary, Jama'atu Nasir Islam of the council, Alhaji Atiku Musa Gurku, also urged initiators of the protest to embrace the dialogue option in the interest of the country.

The religious leaders urged the youths to commit the current challenges in God's hands through intensive prayers rather than embarking on protest.

They urged the president to look for a way of reviewing the prices of petroleum products downwards while also putting in place price control mechanisms to check arbitrary increases in prices of essential goods among other suggestions.