At the end of the town hall meeting held at the Plateau State Government House Yesterday, 30th October 2020, the #EndSars Protesters put up a Communique and made it available to public.
Read details here…
The Communique
The #JosEndSARS protesters were invited by the Government of Plateau State to a youth Town Hall meeting with youths drawn from different interest and pressure groups. At the meeting, the #JosEndSARS protesters, took the stage to make public, demands from Nigerian youths, and specially focused on issues within Plateau State that government can immediately attend to.
The representative of the #JosEndSARS protesters condemned in strong terms, the looting and vandalism of public and private businesses and residences and insisted that in no way was this a part of the peaceful #EndSARS protests.
The demands of the #JosEndSars Protesters was issued with a 90-day ultimatum to the government after which if their demands are not even partially implemented, they will re- converge on the streets of Jos.
The youth groups who spoke thereafter supported these demands.
Further contributions and submissions of significance were made from Representatives of the Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (YOWICAN), the umbrella body of Muslim Youth Groups on the Plateau, the Coalition of Youths of Indigenous Ethnic Nationalities, the National Association of Nigerian Students, the Association of Bloggers and Social Media Influencers and Persons living with Disabilities and the Nigerian Children in Government.
The Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Nuhu Abok responded by throwing his support behind the #EndSARS demands as he observed that in his interface with the protesters at the State House of Assembly, they were peaceful. He lamented the hijacking of the peaceful protest by hoodlums, the event which led to series of curfews.
The Governor, Rt. Hon. Barr. Simon Bako Lalong responded to the issues raised from the various groups and observed that if wishes were horses, he would implement every recommendation brought forward. He however stated that due to the dwindling nature of the state revenue, many of the demands and proposals would be carefully considered according to available resources. The Governor added that the recent vandalism of the public and private places which he estimated at N75 billion was a huge setback for the state.
After the Governor’s response, we were collectively disappointed that the protocol had not created an agenda for a question and answer session. While we commend the Government for hosting the meeting; we had looked forward to a ‘model’ town hall meeting where the Governor and relevant government officials would engage in a question and answer session with the youth. This is necessary if the true purpose of meetings like this is about collaboration and youth participation in the issues that concern them.
We therefore petition government, that if these engagements will continue, they should engage fully to foster open governance and accountability. This way, the value of the meetings would go beyond window dressing and maximum value would be derived by all parties.
As #JosEndSARSProtestersrs, we were offered the sum of N300,000 as logistics support from the Plateau state government. We however declined and chose to donate the money to the victims’ support fund of police and army brutality in Plateau state in the spirit of social recovery, reconciliation and peace.