From Joseph Adahnu, Yola
Following the ongoing nationwide hunger protest, Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, has said he is not against protest as it’s a constitutional right of citizens.
The Governor disclosed this while addressing the people of state.
His address read: “Fellow citizens, we can feel your pain, we can relate with what you are passing through, but we also assure you that as your leaders, we will restore the collective hopes of our livelihood.
“Good governance is your right and that is what we have all sworn to give you. It is our trademark in Adamawa State. As a government, we don’t really need a protest to remind us of this sacred responsibility. We are doing our best to cushion the effect of your hardship. We are particularly conscious of the disturbing youth budge with a growing unemployment rate that is alarming. We saw this coming.
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“At the inception of this government, we did a study on this and our revelation was that no government can take all the army of the youths into its employment. Even if it can, in this age of enterprise, creativity and entrepreneurship, it is the dumbest decision to take.
“We, therefore, created the Ministry of Entrepreneurship to build the capacity of our youths to innovate, own and manage investments successfully. We have trained and are training many youths who are willing to be off the street and creating enabling environment for SMEs to thrive,” he said.
According to him, this is not the moment of running away from truth. “We must not pretend that everything is right. We must also be able to tell you honestly what is within our carrying capacity as a subnational government. Some of the demands of the protesters as genuine as they are macroeconomic policy issues, can best be addressed by the national government.
“This is the reality of our federal structure and constitution. We shall work with you to make sure that the demands are attended to. The President is a listening President, I believe he can equally hear us loud and clear.
“There is so much we can achieve in an atmosphere of peace than we can in rancour and chaos. I must thank our traditional institution represented by our royal fathers for their support, counsel and sensitisation of the citizens on the prized value of peace. I thank our religious leaders, especially the leadership of our churches and mosques for the ecclesiastical call to civil and peaceful coexistence.
Fintiri thanked the youths, as well as the Labour Unions, trade unions, students unions and the civil society for their support in seeing reasons as to why violent protest is the wrong antidote to the present situation.
