Kogi asks residents not to join planned nationwide protest

The Kogi state government has asked its residents not to join a planned nationwide protest.

There are reports that some youths are planning a nationwide protest between August 1 and 15 against the rising cost of living and economic hardship in the country.

In a statement on Sunday, Kingsley Fanwo, Kogi commissioner for information and communication, said the state government is in solidarity with the efforts of the administration of President Bola Tinubu to fix the economy.

“The President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR is working assiduously to get the nation’s economy working again,” Fanwo said.

“Apart from the fiscal and monetary policies that are already yielding positive results, the Federal Government has injected economic stimulating incentives to address the challenges we are facing in the short, medium and long-term. Agriculture, industrialization, infrastructure, education and healthcare are receiving due attention from the Federal Government.

“The administration of Alh. Ahmed Usman Ododo in Kogi State is completely committed to ensuring the central efforts percolate into the state as we have begun massive investments in agriculture, education, healthcare and infrastructure.

“We have also continued to support homes across the state with palliatives to cushion the effects of the economic hardship occasioned by decades of mismanagement that the Tinubu Administration is working hard to correct.

“As responsible citizens, there is a need to queue behind the efforts of the government at all levels to frontally deal with the issues challenging our well-being.

“A protest would have been proper if the Government was making no efforts. Protests would have been popular if the efforts were not bearing fruits yet. Protests would have been understandable if we were not gradually moving out of the hopeless situation.

“But a protest at this point is an attack on the foundation of our rebuilding process and an attempt to throw the nation into the darkness orchestrated during the #EndSars destruction and carnage.”

Fanwo said intelligence reports have allegedly linked the protest with “opposition figures”.

“We are proud of the fact that the people of Kogi have refused to yield the state to the macabre dance of agents of destabilisation,” he said.