Activists: No single part of Nigeria is secure — radical intervention needed

The Peoples Alternative Political Movement (TPAP-Movement), a coalition of labour and civil society organisations, say Nigeria needs radical intervention to save the country from collapsing.

The movement said the county is at “a perilous crossroad” and that those in power have run out of ideas to solve the threats facing the nation.

In a statement on Tuesday, Jaye Gaskiya, secretary of the movement, said the group is committed to building a new Nigeria which will be the pride of Africa.

“We have started to build alliances in the creeks, in the forest lands, in the savannah, in the desert, in the plateau and plain fields where poor and toiling masses of Nigerians live,” he said.

“We are very clear about the root causes of our existential crisis. We shall mobilise Nigerians irrespective of religion, creed and norms to establish a new country that will be the pride of Africa. Nigeria shall be great again.

“We are equally not ambiguous about what is ultimately required to address the crisis and salvage our country and her peoples – the displacement of crooks and looters from power and the elevation of the working class and masses to a state where they can exercise real control and management of their political and economic future.”

The movement further stated that the rising insecurity in the nation is the “result of the decades of misrule”.

“Armed bandits, armed insurgents, armed herders, armed militias, armed cultists, armed robbers, and armed kidnappers lay siege to the country, exercising varying degrees of authority over territories in Nigeria,” the movement said.

“It is clear that the ruling class and all its various factions have run out of ideas and are incapable of resolving the threats facing the country.

“While bandits in power continue to negotiate with bandits in the forests and on the highways, no single inch of the territory of our country is secure, and not a single citizen or resident is safe or can live a life free from fear.

“The quality of life of the average citizen continues to deteriorate. Through the policies of the ruling class, Nigeria has now been brought to a situation where, basic social services are absent, while healthcare delivery, education, and basic social services and infrastructures have collapsed.

“Unemployment is at its highest at 55% – that is more than one in two persons unemployed. The rate among young persons is even more calamitous at nearly 65%-more than three in five youths out of work.”

The group called on other labour movements and the public to continue to hold the government accountable.

“We demand that participatory, representative and inclusive steps and processes are immediately embarked upon and put in place to address this crisis,” it said.

“The security and defence institutions, systems and processes need to be radically overhauled. Citizens must be enabled to play the central role in ensuring their own security, through representative community level, neighbourhood, workplace, and school based inclusive security and conflict prevention committees.

“Our movement will ensure public investment in providing basic social services in health, education, energy, housing, mass transportation are substantially increased to reverse the current trend.

“We are going to work with citizens and their organised social forces to resist further privatisations, and to reverse the privatisations already made, and recover the looted public assets.”

Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, Toye Olorode and Jaye Gaskiya are among the individuals behind the movement.