Our Reporter, New York
The Head of the Government Advancement Initiative for Nigeria (GAIN), Dr. Malcolm Fabiyi, has urged Nigerians to go beyond complaining about the country’s ills on social media and organise themselves to hold those who ruin the country to account. He made the remarks during an interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica.
“We are not the only nation that has gone through these issues, but unlike us, many other nations that had similar experiences have found a way to organise themselves and speak truth to power,” he explained regarding the country’s bad leadership.
“I think it’s time we got to that place where we move beyond just expressing outrage on social media.”
He said that Nigerians have been oppressed to the extent that they seem to have forgotten their rights, so it is the task of those who are politically conscious to mobilise them for action.
“And like everybody who is a victim of consistent and chronic assault, we need to actually begin to speak to ourselves. Part of the task of those of us who are conscious of the fact that this is not normal is to continue, not just to speak about these issues but also to begin to mobilise for action,” he noted.
Speaking on the 2025 budget presented by President Tinubu to the National Assembly, he described it as a “complete misallocation of resources” in which critical sectors of the economy, such as education and health, are grossly underfunded. He said that the political leaders keep presenting ridiculous budgets each year because they don’t have any regard for the people.
Malcolm Fabiyi also commented on the ordeals of Dele Farotimi and other Nigerians who are facing one legal assault or another based on the Cyber Crime Act.
He said that section 24 of the Act is used to harass Nigerians and shut them up. To push back on this legal assault against Nigerians, he said he and others of like minds have decided to pull resources together to assist activists and journalists who have fallen victim to the oppressive law.
“Some of us have decided to come together and pull our resources together to achieve three things: the first is to set up a legal defense fund, not just for Dele, but also for all the other people that are being challenged by the system. This is important because one of the ways the system gets you is that they stretch you financially. For example, Dele currently has about five different cases in different courts across the country. Their plan is to inundate young activists and journalists with multiple cases across different courts to strain them financially and make it difficult to defend themselves. The legal defense fund is to help activists respond to such scenarios.
“The second is to coordinate action. Because the truth of the matter is that though these cases are taking place in courts, they are not legal issues but political ones. The intent is to stifle any conscious opposition. So, we need a global platform through which we can fight back. This will take the form of engagements, petitions and other political actions.
“The third is to create a whistleblower initiative. Corruption might occur in the shadows, but there are people who are involved in the process. The idea is that if we can incentivise those people to provide information, then we can begin to put fear into these people who think that they are untouchable,” he said.
