Hunger protest: ‘Tinubu is working 24 hours to address Nigeria’s problems -Education minister, mamman insist

By Yagana Ali, Yola.

The minister of Education, Tahir Mamman at the weekend, said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is fully aware of the situation in the country and is currently working 24 hours to address the problems.

The minister made this known in a town hall meeting in Yola Adamawa state.

The meeting which was attended by a large section of Adamawa citizens including student unions, youth leaders, market women, people living with disability (PLWD), political and religious leaders provided a turf where critical national challenges were honestly discussed.

Various youth and women leaders who ventilated their frustrations over rising inflation, hunger and poverty thanked the federal government for initiating the process which they said will go a long way in proffering solutions to the myriads of challenges confronting the nation.

They also urged the citizens to shun protest, noting that although it is a fundamental right of all citizens, the fact that enemies of the state may hijack it to cause massive unrest made it an unattractive and unviable alternative.

They urged the government to as a matter of urgency implement reforms that will mitigate poverty, inflation and hunger in the country so that the ordinary Nigerian will enjoy the dividend of democracy and live a stress free life.

Also speaking, the representative of heads of higher institutions in Adamawa State and Provost of Federal College of Education (FCE) Yola, Dr. Mohammed Usman Degereji urged the people to preserve, adding that what the president is doing is akin to conducting a surgery on the nation.

He stressed that the process of conducting a surgery is always painful adding that the pain will only be temporary while the fruit is everlasting happiness and peace .

Degereji noted that these times calls for sober reflection and dialogue as protests will only aggravate Nigeria’s challenges similar to what happened to other countries like Libya and Sudan who live to contend with the consequences of such protest for decades.

Reacting to the submission of the various stakeholders, Prof. Tahir Mamman, Minister of education appealed to Nigerians not to partake in the nationwide protest for peaceful coexistence and more dividend of democracy in the country.

He said, President Bola Tinubu has done a lot for Nigeria within the one year of his administration and more would be achieved in the next three years.

He listed some of the achievements to include; local governments autonomy for development at the grassroots, increase in students scholarship, students loans scheme, N70,000 minimum wage.

Others are returning about four million children back to school and provision of Agricultural inputs to farmers aimed at addressing food insecurity, road projects among others.

in a separate reaction, Aliyu Wakili Boya, the member representing Fufore and Song federal constituency in the house of representatives and former deputy speaker of Adamawa State House of assembly Sunday Peters thanked the federal government for initiating the dialogue adding that it will go a long way in ushering renewed understanding between the leaders and the led.

They noted that president Bola Tinubu is working round the clock to address the myriad of challenges he met on ground adding that some of the policies need time to mature, calling for more support and understanding while urging the people to resist the temptation of protests due to its susceptibility of being hijacked.