A former House of Representatives member from Ogun State, Hon. Kayode Jelili Amusan has pleaded with the organizers of the planned nationwide protest tagged ‘End Bad Governance’ slated for August 1, 2024 to reconsider their stance and rather show more understanding and patience towards the many initiatives and programs the Federal Government is deploying towards alleviating the present harsh economic realities the nation is presently facing.
He further advised that rather than embark on protests that may spiral out of control and lead to a breakdown of law and order, as recently witnessed in Kenya, the brains behind the protests should rather seek a way where themselves and representatives of the Federal Government can sit on a round table and they can put their demands forward and even ask for specific timelines to realistic demands, urging that politicizing the situation may not be in the best interest of the nation.
According to Amusan, ‘’the present economic realities of our nation call for a concern and we need concerted efforts, both on the part of the elected government officials and the people being governed to pull through and return our nation to the path of economic recovery. The people have a right to protest and make their grievances known to the government but the truth is, as we have seen with Kenya, protests without identified leaders can be hijacked by people with ulterior motives and then we have a breakdown of law and order. Nigeria cannot afford any at a time like this. What we need is to come together as a people, both the government and the governed and find lasting solutions to the many challenges we are facing as a people. The current economic situation in the country is not one anyone should be proud of, regardless of our political or social standing. As we have seen that the government is putting measures in place to arrest the situation, what we need right now is not a protest but concerted efforts at returning our nation to its days of self-sufficiency and prosperity’’.
Amusan also commended the judiciary and the Bola Tinubu government for the recent Supreme Court pronouncement on local government autonomy. According to him ‘’the local government is the closest to the people, it should be synonymous with rural development, empowerment and any efforts towards strengthening it should be supported’’. The Supreme Court’s landmark judgement included a decision that overturned the longstanding practice where state governments received federal allocations on behalf of local government areas and withheld the funds. Nigeria’s Supreme Court affirmed on 11 July the financial autonomy of the nation’s 774 local governments.
Hon. Amusan, a two-time governorship aspirant in Ogun State is the chairman of Kamson Holdings Limited and represented Abeokuta North/Odeda/Obafemi-Owode Federal Constituency from 2003-2011 in the House of Representative
