By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian government has opened portals for job employment in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and has also called on youths to apply for grants to fund their ventures in an effort to quell a nationwide protest scheduled for August 1.
Over the last two weeks, the call for protests has rocked the country which is facing increasing hardship amid policies instituted by President Bola Tinubu leading inflation to rise to a 28-year-high of 34.19 per cent.
The increased call has been likened to that of a fellow African country, Kenya, which led the government to repeal a tax law after citizens took to the streets and also breached the parliament.
Business Post understands that the protest was not organised by the country’s labour unions, but some fringe groups have announced intentions to hold the protests.
To avert such a scenario playing out in Nigeria, the government has engaged a lot of tactics including security agencies and law enforcement warning against the action.
Also, religious clerics, traditional rulers and other prominent Nigerians have joined the government in discouraging young people from embarking on protests.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Kayode Egbetokun, on Sunday, explained why he asked all groups planning the protest to register and provide requisite information at their respective state police commands before embarking on the protest.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Mr Barau Jibrin, also appealed to organisers of the proposed protests to reconsider their decision and shelve the idea so that the fragile peace in the country would not be disrupted.
The Governor of Kwara State and Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Mr AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, over the weekend, appealed to Nigerians to be patient with Tinubu as he tackles the myriad of challenges facing the country.
The Governor of Ogun State, Mr Dapo Abiodun, equally called on Nigerian youth not to allow themselves to be used by a movement, allegedly, sponsored by politicians.
While these individuals deterred protests, the federal government also moved to tackle some base concerns around the protest.
Last week, the NNPC Limited, Nigeria’s state oil company, published nationwide job vacancies in a post on X for the first time in nearly a decade.
The NNPC recruitment process has been accused of being unfair and opaque in the past but according to the spokesperson, Mr Olufemi Soneye, the firm will make this transparent.
However, hours after the portal was opened, heavy traffic caused the site to crash as many flooded to apply for the available roles.
In the same vein, the Ministry of Youth Development last Friday relaunched a N110 billion youth investment fund that was started in 2020, aimed at providing grants to Nigeria’s youth to generate jobs.
The Ministry had earlier in May 2024 said it would revive the programme but little had been heard about it until Friday.
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