ENDSARS : PROTEST PEACEFULLY TO GET YOUR DEMAND DONE: DALUNG APPLAUD NIGERIAN YOUTHS: From: Ahmed Isah.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. The impact of justice in organising contemporary societies where human resources are building bricks is critical. The opposite of justice is injustice which classical thinkers like the former American President, Abraham Lincoln defined its impact as threatening to justice globally. Justice is a barometer for measuring the moral authority of leadership and also lubricant to social harmony. Therefore investments in justice is sine quo none to stability, economic growth and development. No society can imagine advancement without social justice, put it lucidly, lack of development is the absence of justice.

What then is justice? Like every concept its a subject of diverse academic adventures but for the purposes of this write up I adopt the following definition. "Justice is the morally fair and right state of everything. To have justice as a person's character trait means that they are just and treat everyone the same, or how they would like to be treated". To me justice simply means anything that is fair and just, doing unto otherwise what you expect them to do for you and treating fellow human beings equally.

The remote cause of crisis undermining the stability of our nation cannot be far from the fact that injustice has been domesticated as value system. It is promoted with impunity at all levels which is more or less the new normal in our society. The crash arrogance with which elected leadership perpetuate injustice is sickening. Even though we practice democracy it is driven by compromise constitutionalism because of the collapsed of mechanisms of checks, balances and the rule of law. The recklessness abused of powers over the years has inflicted monumental damages to confidence of citizens to trust leadership, because promises are observed more in breach. Ironically, the military adventure into politics invented brutalities on our national physe but elected public officials consolidated it with immunity. The psuedo federal structure superimposed by the 1999 Constitution as amended has failed the litmus test of guaranteeing national unity. The insincere attempts to address these structural defects by previous administrations vide ambitious  self serving constitutional conferences is evidence of the fact that this constitutional arrangement is unworkable.

What are the gains of democracy reviewing the journey so far, one may asked? To avoid been immodest, it has been motion without action aligning it with the huge yearly budgetary provisions yet the indices of growth and development points abysmally to reverse progress. Poverty, hunger, unemployment and hopelessness threaten existence worst than any human catastrophy. Leadership has over the years squandered the goodwill of the people by taking them for a cheap ride. Even colonial usurpers ruled with more human faces than traumatic experiences of this democratic experiment. In my opinion, the flawed in the legal regime setting out the system is the breading ground for irresponsibility and lack of accountability. Democracy without accountability is the worst forms of tyranny any modern society can survive, without which the taste of leadership will be sour in the mouths of the citizens.

Even though Nigeria prides itself as a giant of the black race it has been unable to provide leadership due to internal contradictions. We are far below the indices of development even though the country is blessed with abundant human resources. The federal structure in place is skewed in manner that bad leadership can be recycled endlessly. The federating units are mere appendages of centre which has only been producing situational billionaires without anything to justify sources of wealth. The judicial system has been arm twisted in corruption controversy after so many years of guided independence through manipulation of funding. The red chambers of the National Assembly is the last political bus of former governors to reposition themselves against any move to hold them accountable. Armed with enormous resources at their disposal they employed both fire of of legislation and logistics to suffocate any attempt to scrutinised their tenures as state chief executives.

It has gotten so bad that currently, the second and third tiers of governments has failed in majority of the federating units. Even though, huge monthly allocations accrued to them, most of them can hardly pay salaries without bailouts. Despite millions and billions spent on security votes by the states, the people cannot sleep with their two eyes closed. Instead of addressing these concerns, some of the state governors have abandoned their people to their fates while regular political pilgrimages to Aso Rock and briefing state house media is the order of the day. Instead of been the watch dogs of the state chief executives, the state legislatures in most states are not only rubber stamps but also constitutes the orchestra of hero worship in government houses. At best, they are special assistants to governors on legislative matters but certainly not the status provided for them by the Constitution. Their elections were sponsored by the governors against the popular will of the majority, therefore he who plays the pipers dictates the tune.

Critical infrastructures has been abandoned leading to collapse of the production sectors. While corruption presides over every sector with its hydra headed infections leading to systemic decay. The youth demography has been systematically neglected over the years leading to recycling of mediocrity and spent initiatives that is conservative to inventions and innovations. The state of anomaly has created an army of sophisticated and talented but jobless youth populations. This dangerous scenario was well captured by the President of the 44th United Nations Session, General J.N Garba in 1987 in Jos, when stated, "if we the elites neglected the educational system in Nigeria because we can afford to train our children outside the country, we shall only be building an island of literacy to be overwhelmed by tsunami of ignorance". For me this situation is the other way round, if we elites neglected the talented and innovative youth demography because we can afford jobs for our children, we shall be building an island of privilege few to be overran by tsunami of a jobless youth populations.

The youth question must be critically answered by demonstrating commitments because trust and confidence has been mismanaged. To regain this, governments at all levels must embrace justice and not rhetorical statements which can escalate the situation. The ongoing #EndSARSNOW is only a loud message that the patience of the youthful populations has been over strained. It is a symbolic trigger of many years of injustice, which must not be given any sectional, religious or ethnic construction rather it must be appreciated as serious problems on our hands. The best approach should be constructive engagements by government accompanied by radical response to issues agitating the minds of young people. These issues are insecurity, impunity, corruption, police reforms, rule of law, accountability, electoral and Constitutional reforms. The economy must be rejiged to stimulate the production sectors to create employments, while social stimulus regime must be created and transparently managed to reduce hardship confronting the people. It is time to be more responsive, therefore, state governors must face the question of good governance seriously especially investing resources in creating jobs instead of lip-service youth empowerment programs fraught with lack of accountability.

Security is responsibility of all, the state chief executives must deploy all resources both human and material to cope with the looming state of insecurity. This is achievable only if they will do justice to people by staying at their duty posts instead of Aso Rock pilgrimage or operating from Abuja. At no point should government contemplate the use of force as an alternative to crackdown the demonstrations, because even if it succeeded it will only hardened the resolve of the youth populations which will also portrayed the  human rights regime of the administration in bad light. There's a need to carefully study the unfolding scenario to understand the dynamics at play. Its fall out of accumulated justice over the years that requires pragmatic attention with so many stakeholders. To me operation crocodile smiles though routine might escalate and jeopardise the fragile situation. Let's look at a better option of approaching the crisis.

To the youths, I say viva, viva, viva for taking your destinies into your hands. I stand with you as you raise your hands up and voices against injustice. I appeal that the process remains peaceful while you vigilantly guide against infiltration from disgruntled elements which might be sponsored to create chaos. In doing these, the protests must not be allowed to degenerate into anarchy which will defeat the purpose. For the security agencies, it is your responsibility to provide security to peaceful prostesters while ensuring that rogue elements does not undermine the integrity of it. We are all stakeholders in building a better society, everyone contributions is relevant in moving the country favour. I believe in peaceful resolution of issues and believe we shall emerge stronger.

Happy Sunday.