President Bola Tinubu has urged Nigerian youths to shelve the planned protest over the harsh economic conditions in the country, telling them that there is no need for the action since his government is willing to address their demands.
He made the plea in a meeting with the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, at the presidential villa in Abuja on Tuesday.
The minister, who revealed this to correspondents after the meeting, said that President Tinubu urged the youth to stay calm and await the response of the federal government to their grievances.
The president’s remark came against the backdrop of the plan by some Nigerians to embark on a nationwide protest between August 1 and 10 against the rising cost of living in the country.
The federal government’s spokesman revealed the discussion with the president, saying: “We also discussed the issue of the country generally and Mr. President has asked me to again inform Nigerians that he listens to them, especially the young people that are trying to protest. Mr President, he listens to them, he takes what they say seriously and he is working assiduously to ensure that this country is good not just for today but also for the future.
“The issue of the planned protest, Mr. President does not see any need for that. He asked them to shelve that plan and he has asked them to await the government’s response to all their pleas. He has listened to them like I said.”
As part of the ways to ameliorate the economic hardship, Idris pointed out that the national assembly has expeditiously passed the national minimum wage bill transmitted to it only on Monday.
He added: “A lot is happening. Only today, the national assembly has expeditiously passed the bill on national minimum wage. You can see how the President is working. It was transmitted only yesterday. Today, it has passed.
“A lot of other interventions that the President has also put in place are also going to be looked at expeditiously in the interest of Nigerians. So, there is no need for a strike.
The young people out there should listen to the President and allow the President more time to see to the realization of all the goodies he has for them.”
The minister recalled that the president has already approved the distribution of grains to states and exploring strategies to ensure that the government intervention reaches the people that need it.
Idris further said: “For example, you saw that the federal government approved grains and rice for state governments. It was delivered to them expeditiously. Also, the federal government, like I said that time, is just the necessary first step, government is going to continue in that direction supporting them and assuring that whatever intervention the federal government has put in place, goes to those that should benefit. It is very important that it is being put out.
“The federal government is looking at strategies to ensure that every intervention would go directly to those who benefit from those interventions, not middlemen intervening along the way.
“You heard about the student loan board launched by Mr. President. Mr. President is very passionate about that deepening, that everyone who should go to work will have the opportunity to go to school.
“It is no longer a time for all of us to stay back and see our young able-bodied men and women who have passed the examinations to go to tertiary institutions have not been able to do that because their parents are not able to pay for their fees. This is a thing of the past.
“Government is very desirous to ensure that happens. You know that the provision that was made to the NELFUND (Nigerian Education Loan Fund), is already, we have in excess of what is required today, and the more that people are requiring that, the more the President will also give.
“There is also the intervention the President is making for young men and women who have finished school and who are yet to get employed post-NYSC for example.
“There is a scheme the government is perfecting now and that will be pushed very fast so that all those young men and women who have finished school, graduates of universities and polytechnics that are not able to get jobs, they will continue to be supported by the government until such a time that those jobs are offered to them.
“The whole idea is that no one is left behind, everybody will be in it. It is an all-inclusive government and the President is determined to ensure that no one is left behind in this attempt to march Nigeria towards progress.”
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