Amid the #EndBadGovernance protests across the country, occasioned by massive hardship in Nigeria President Bola Tinubu has been advised to speedily come up with effective and creative solutions that will ameliorate the current situation to the country, "if Nigeria must pull through this current nadir of despair."
These was the view of the member representing Idemili North and South federal constituency of Anambra State in the National Assembly, Hon. Uchenna Harris Okonkwo.
In a statement issued and made available to THISDAY, the lawmaker said: "I appreciate his (Tinubu) acknowledgement that he has heard Nigerians loud and clear. I reckon with his assertion that the buck stops at his table, because it should actually. He should proceed now to persuade Nigerians better by tested actions that will mitigate these afflictions decisively and sustainably."
He added: "I also endorse the irrepressible liberty of Nigerians to protest loudly but decently, just as I note with pride our youths' restraints to act more maturely, especially in our southern region.
This is because, as a representative of one of the largest and most populated federal constituencies in this country, I know firsthand how deep the pains are, and how severe the traumas are becoming.
"It's been personally agonising to reconcile how a once 'happiest people in Africa' cascaded into this yoke we have been, simply on account of leadership failures and vision paralysis, over the last decade mostly. Such systemic leadership embarrassment which brought us this low remain the president's biggest nut to crack by taking the hints of this protests to address, solve, and reverse the situation."
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Okonkwo therefore, appealed to all Nigerians, either in government (leadership) or governed, "to get more real in our zeal to serve our citizens responsibly and sensitively, aware that since democracy is our deliberate choice of governance, it grows and thrives from the people and for the people. We must then adjust to the reality that our citizens are getting impatient with increasing resolve to tell us point blank, when we mis-govern or misrepresent them.
"As tested and tolerant as Nigerians have endured in this decade of misery, it should not happen nor contemplated, by any act of arrogance or standard aloofness of the past, to suppress or deny them a let off for such high agony."
He called upon all security agencies and personnel mobilised to suppress the already depressed people, "to rather protect and treat them with empathy, respect, and love.
"It is a critical challenge to their call of duty and capacity for intelligence to skillfully sieve out the criminals and deal with them promptly, while they protect the legitimacy of citizens to show dissent or approval. They should note that these people protest for them too, since they are barred by law to express their own frustrations publicly."
While commenting on the media exploitation by desperate elements to instigate ethnic attacks, especially against the people of the South-east, he cautioned everyone to pause and reflect that "if development has eluded us this much in peace time, prosperity will commit unfortunate suicide if that peace disappear. It's a grave spectacle of history no sane person should romance, whether by mischief or poor sense."
