Our worries over nationwide protests— FG

The Federal Government on Wednesday said it is not averse to protest being a fundamental right of citizens but fears that the process might be hijacked by hoodlums and dissidents to unleash mayhem.

Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, stated the position on Wednesday.

He made the remarks shortly after participating in a Forum of Councillors in Nigeria,  held at Shehu Yar’Adu Centre, Abuja.

Fielding questions from newsmen, the Minister stressed that hoodlums might seize the opportunity of the nationwide protests to destroy and loot critical public infrastructures built many years, thereby setting the country backward.

Olawande listed the giant strides of President Bola Tinubu’s administration in the last one year and charged the councillors to spread the message of hope to people at the grassroots.

“We have more than 8, 809 councillors spread across the 774 local government areas of Nigeria.

“As critical stakeholders, if you help to educate people at the grassroots, we will reduce the problem of misinformation,’’ he said.

The minister said with the recent financial autonomy granted the local government councils, the President had shown political will to right the wrongs of decades of maladministration that held the nation down.

Earlier, Hyacinth Turnoe, National Coordinator, Grassroots Councillors Development said the group is for Nigerian councilors drawn from the 36 states and the Federal capital territory.

He said the group came together with the  objectives of helping to disseminate messages of Renewed Hope to the people at the grassroots.

Turnoe said that the present administration had done well in the past one year, saying “Tinubu’s government under the Renewed Hope Agenda has done a lot in the provision of road, rail and port infrastructures among other”.

Dr Okwute Ochayi, a lecturer from the Department of Physiology, Baze University, Abuja, in a keynote address, commended the efforts of the federal government in rebuilding the economy.

He also praised the government for its efforts in the areas of strengthening security and law enforcement, education, agriculture and food security, among others.

Ochayi advised the youths to be patient with the government, noting that embarking on nationwide protests might not be the ideal measure towards addressing the nation’s challenges at the moment.