200m Nigerians must sign this: The Lekki Toll Gate Declaration

The Lekki Toll Gate Declaration

 

Ayo Akinfe

 

[1] We declare that from this date henceforth, we shall not flee in the face of attacks from the Nigerian security forces. Whenever we are holding peaceful demonstrations and the police and/or army are sent to shoot us, we will stay put and be shot. Martyrdom is a necessary price that has to be paid for freedom

 

[2] We appeal to all ethnic bigots to refrain from trying to divide our youth and subsequently derail our struggle for a better Nigeria. The terrible living conditions which prevail in Nigeria affect everyone irrespective of ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age or skin complexion

 

[3] With a population of 200m people of which 97% are below the age of 65, an Atlantic coastline of 853km and a landmass of 923,769 km2, 37% of which is arable, Nigeria should be a global economic power. We shall continue fighting for a better society in which Nigeria realises her true economic potential irrespective of the consequences

 

[4] We find it totally unacceptable that 60 years after independence, Nigeria remains a mono-economy with over 905 of government revenue coming from the export of crude oil. We shall continue to fight for the diversification of the Nigerian economy as the only way to address our plethora of socio-economic problems

 

[5] In 1958, the leaders of the component parts of Nigeria gathered at Lancaster House in London and signed a communiqué in which they committed to a decentralised economy in which the federating unit would control all resources within their domain, retaining 50%, remitting 20% to the federation account and sending 30% into a common pool into which everyone had access. We remain committed to that principle and will continue agitating for a return to this agreement as at no stage in our history did Nigerians sit down and agree to depart from this arrangement

 

[6] We object to the poverty wages the Nigerian worker, including policemen are forced to live on while our leaders earn millions of dollars annually. We thus call for the salaries of all politicians, public servants and officials to be linked to a grade in the civil service, so they receive a wage proportionate to what Nigeria can afford like the rest of us

 

[7] We demand free and compulsory education for every Nigerian child up to the end of secondary school. If the state is struggling to afford this in any year, a special windfall tax will be levied on the rich to fund it

 

[8] Anyone found guilty by a court of law of corruption should face a life ban from the politics of out fatherland

 

[9] As part of our commitment to the girl child, we want to see the age of consent set at 16 and anyone found to have has sexual relations with anyone below that age must be charged with statutory rape

 

[10] It is the job of the government to provide security for the people. We find it totally unacceptable that Nigeria is able to mobilise its security forces within days to confront peaceful protesters but gives us repeated excuses when we ask with terrorist groups like Boko Haram, armed herdsmen, bandits, etc roam around the country freely and with impunity. We demand an end to all the games and insulting out our intelligence and request that the government stop harbouring and shielding criminal elements within our society

 

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