Politics
Why Most Nigerians Support #EndBadGovernance Protest – PremiumTimes
Most Nigerians support the #EndBadGovernance protest scheduled to kick off nationwide Thursday, a PREMIUM TIMES poll conducted across social platforms has shown.
Mostly, young Nigerians are organising the protest to express their displeasure about the rising cost of living, which is believed to be a fallout of the government’s economic policies.
PREMIUM TIMES poll shows that more Nigerians support the protest than are against it.
The poll was conducted via this newspaper’s accounts on two social media platforms to survey readers’ stances on the planned protest.
It ran for three days between 26 and 28 July and six days between 26 July and 31 July.
The respondents were asked on both social media platforms: “Are you in support of the nationwide protest?”
They were given two options: A – Yes and B – No.
Poll results on Social Media
Most users who responded backed the protest.
Of the total 4,173 users that responded to the poll, 3,255 users — representing 78 per cent — voted “yes” to support the protest.
Only 22 per cent, that is 918 respondents, voted against it.
Poll results on Facebook
On Facebook, 1,006 responded to the poll as of Wednesday.
Of the respondents, 81 per cent – 816 of them – voted in support of the protest.
On the other hand, 19 per cent, or 190 respondents, voted against the protest.
Protest
The protest is driven by citizens’ displeasure with the government’s handling of the fallout of its economic policies, which have caused an astronomical rise in the cost of living in the country.
The Nigerian government has spoken against the protest and cast the organisers as people driven by political interests.
Some religious organisations, professional groups and traditional rulers have urged the protesters to shelve the protest plan.
On Wednesday, on the eve of the protest, the government’s reaction took on a tone of appeal, with the Secretary to the Government of Federation (SGF) George Akume urging the organisers to shelve the protest to give time to address their concerns.
The protesters’ demands have been as varied as the diversity of the protest organisers.
Many issues beyond the core rallying point have been added to the wish lists of the protesters.
PREMIUM TIMES collated some of these demands in posts and flyers shared by users on various social media platforms.
The demands range from economic hardship, reforms, and the enthronement of a credible electoral system to accountability and justice in the country.
The Nigerian constitution guarantees the citizens’ right to peaceful protest.