The minority caucus believes dialogue between the federal government and those planning to protest can be beneficial
The minority caucus of the House of Representatives has called on the federal government to immediately initiate dialogue with promoters of a planned protest over economic hardship in the country.
This was part of the caucus’ resolution released at the end-of-session dinner held in Abuja on Tuesday.
Speaking with reporters after the dinner, chairman of the caucus, Rep. Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers) called for dialogue and discouraged the planned protest especially against the background of insecurity in parts of the country.
“We also appealed to the government to dialogue with the planned protesters and also look at some of the messages they are raising, the critical areas that need government intervention. Government should intervene and ensure that issues are resolved amicably.
“We are not going to encourage any protesters because in the past we have observed in most cases that even peaceful protests have been overtaken by hoodlums and with the insecurity situation in some parts of the country, you may not have the control of the gathering of people. So some unscrupulous people may use the opportunity to create chaos.
“So we are discouraging any protest but we appeal to the government to dialogue and also look at critical areas that are necessary and address them amicably,” he said..
Chinda urged the government to adopt the carrot-and-stick method in addressing the problem of insecurity in the country.
“We acknowledge and observe the insecurity situation in the country and we call on the government to use carrots and sticks by ensuring that the result is seen. Let all the security chiefs do what is right to ensure that Nigerians are protected,” he said.
The caucus also called on the government to create means to ensure citizens are self-reliant in a bid to tackle the economic downturn in the country.
“We also acknowledged in our discussion that there is hunger in the land and we appeal to the government not only to be giving palliatives but to create ways and means whereby people can be self-reliant,” he said.
He stated that the dinner was organised to thank all the members for their support. “Basically the main purpose of our gathering yesterday was just end of year dinner. We feel it is important to organise a dinner and thank all our members for giving us the necessary support, all the minority parties in the House,” he said.
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