SBM Intelligence, an Africa-focused market and security intel gathering firm has warned the federal government of a potential trouble ahead should it fail to address the demands of the protesters.
“Nigeria faces numerous warning signs that should alert Aso Rock to the challenges ahead. However, the government’s responses suggest a preference for high-risk strategies,” the research firm said.
“This approach may inadvertently legitimise extreme ideas, potentially creating more problems than the administration can manage,” it said in its new report titled An August Nightmare: Assessing The Early Days of The #EndBadGovernanceProtestInNigeria.
SBM said that while more trouble may be averted in the short term given the heavy security presence at various protest grounds and calls made by President Bola Tinubu to end the demonstration, his speech however failed to address issues raised by the campaigners.
Nigerian leader, President Tinubu, addressed the country in a widely televised nationwide broadcast on Sunday morning after the protest hit the fourth day but critics have said the speech fell short of expectations as it does not address the concerns of the protesters.
“Your speech is quite a monumental missed opportunity to placate citizens with sound answers and outline of convincing evidence-based actions that you and your government will immediately take to address the priority #BadGovernance concerns,” Obiageli Ezekwesili, former education minister said.
In their report, SBM Intel said the president shied away from the underlying issues plaguing the country in his speech and provided no roadmap or clear targets for tackling them.
“Instead, the President opted to label the protests as politically motivated against his government.
“This characterisation was a missed opportunity for the Tinubu administration to gradually overcome its legitimacy problem and address the country ’s challenges with the urgency and clarity required,” it said.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer is currently witnessing its worst economic crisis in at least a decade, buoyed by rising inflationary pressures and soaring food prices which have been double-digit for the past two years.
The high consumer prices are punishing spending power and worsening the cost of living.
This fall in the living conditions of the citizens is pushing them to the streets to demand good governance, which according to them, will ease their pains.
Among the demands of the protesters are an end to bad governance, corruption, high cost of governance and reversal of the popular, costly and unsustainable fuel subsidy.
But the president has remained resolute saying “fuel subsidy was noose around Nigeria’s neck” and its removal was for growth.
“Though rooted in widespread economic and social discontent, the protests have revealed deep divisions in the country’s response to governance and civic action,” the report stated.
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