Sometimes, it is hard to place the needs of protesters. When you try to solve the problem they raised, they will demand for another one or accuse you of ignoring their major demand. If you try to listen and address them, they will tell you they don’t want your contribution because they want the whole world to know what you have done to them. They will shut you down and deny you the chance to address the issues they raised. Honestly, the best way to stop a protest is by preventing it.

The ongoing #EndSARS protest is a good example of the scenario described above. When the protest started, the protesters stated categorically that they don’t want SARS to be reformed but to be totally disbanded. Fortunately, on Sunday, 11 October, 2020, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, announced that SARS has been disbanded. However, the protesters did not take him by his words because they do not trust him. Apart from that, the fact that the men of SARS will be redeployed to other units of the Nigerian Police Force seemed not to go down well with them. No one actually knows what the true grievance is today, but the fact remains that the protest continued after Adamu’s press conference. And it is getting violent and bloody.

To be honest, I have tried to follow the rationale behind the continued protest, and the call for more demonstrators, but I am actually at lost. From all I can see, their demands have been met, so why is the protest still heating up? Permit me to ask, what exactly do the current protesters want? Of course it can’t be about SARS because it has been dissolved. So, why are they still demanding for ENDSARS?

Well, from the comments I see on Twitter handles of most of these protesters, I think I can point out some of the things they want – most of which are unrealistic.

• Dismissal of SARS Officials

As unfortunate as this might sound, most of us in this country don’t really know how things work. It is unfortunate that people went on the ENDSARS campaign and hoped that the SARS officials would be sacked and released into society (despite their expertise with weapons). Hence, when they heard that these officials will be redeployed, they raised hell. Someone even told me that it is wrong to send SARS officials to other police units because they will “corrupt” the officials they meet there. Well, I think it is high time somebody educated the protesters on this issue.

• Persecution of SARS Officials

I know that some SARS officials are brutal but I still know that there are good ones among them. I made out time to talk to some adults here in Enugu and they said that the youths don’t know how SARS made it safe for them. Yes, a lot of them made life unbearable for the youths. But then, it is wrong to assume that they should all be prosecuted, especially when there is no evidence against them.

• Abolishment of Every Special Police Force

There is no need spending much time on this. Many of these protesters do not want a special police force that will oversee armed robbery and other violent crimes. Somehow, they believed that ordinary black and black olopa can keep their community safe. Well, good luck to them.

I don’t know who should go out there and call the youths back home so that things can be worked out under a sane clime. Sorry to say this, but it is true that their protest is becoming more of a noise than a message. The IGP has given his order, what we need now is how to follow it up to ensure that it is well carried out. From what I learnt, the Anambra State government is already working with the state police command to disband SARS, even without a single protest happening there. This comes to show that the order given by the IGP is authentic and it is for the state governments to oversee its implementation. For this, any further protest has no good cause.

But then, here we are, our youths are being incited into endangering their lives by people that never stepped out of their homes or offices to join the protest. If I may say, parents need to talk to their youths now more than ever.

On September 28, the Federal Government of Nigeria averted proposed nationwide strike by Organized Labour, over the increment of petrol pump price and electricity tariff, by promising to, within two weeks, implement effective measures that will cushion the effects of the price hike.

As part of the agreement, the Federal Government was given two weeks by a committee made up of stakeholders and representatives from both the government and Organized Labour, to set the ball rolling.

On Monday, the Federal Government announced that, as part of its efforts to implement measures that will ease the strains of the price hike, it will work out modalities to ensure that customers overcharged by the eleven electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos), as a result of the electricity tariff hike will be fully refunded.

Earlier in September, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), increased electricity tariff from N30.23 per kilowatt-hour to N62.33 per kwh. As a result of the tariff increment, five distinctive bands (A-E) were created to reflect the various service levels and minimum hours of power supply.

Customers were to be allotted electricity supply according to the hours of electricity they consume in their respective Bands. Customers in [Band A] are to enjoy a daily minimum supply of 20 hours, those in [Band B] minimum of 16 hours, [Band C] will have minimum of 12 hours, [Band E] minimum of 8 hours, and those in [Band D], a minimum of 4 hours daily electricity supply.

According to NERC, the increased tariff will only apply to customers in Bands A, B and C, while D and E remain frozen until they are allotted more hours.

And as part of efforts to improve service delivery in the power sector, the Special Adviser to the president on Infrastructure, Ahmed Rufai Zakaria, said about six million Nigerian households will be metered. He added that the tariff relief plan will be implemented this week to uphold the agreement between Organized Labour and the Federal Government.

“The implementation of the above tariff reliefs will be executed within this week as the suspension of the Service-Based Tariff is removed; the distribution of six million free meters to Nigerians and refunds for any customer overcharged by the DisCos will be implemented.

“We completed our work with Labour on electricity tariffs. The federal government will use Value Added Tax, VAT proceeds from the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), to reduce the September increases by 10 percent to 31 percent for bands A to C, Band D and will remain frozen,” he said.

However, the tariff subsidy is expected to last for three months, which leaves gaps in the agreement between Labour and the Federal Government, and some unanswered questions.

The agreement entails that the Federal government, among other things, will roll out measures, including tax waiver on the minimum wage and intervention fund to reduce the burden of the petroleum pump price and electricity tariff hike.

“A specific amount is to be unveiled by the Federal Government in two weeks’ time, which will be isolated from the Economic Sustainability Programme Intervention Fund that can be accessed by Nigerian Workers with subsequent provision for 240,000 under the auspices of NLC and TUC,” said the Minister of Labour and Employment.

While the move offers reprieve to Nigerians on electricity, fuel price hike remains unaddressed as it involves multifaceted mechanisms that the government is struggling to develop.