Nigerian President Good-luck Jonathan has been urged to take bold steps to tackle the ongoing instability caused by Islamic militant group Boko Haram.
A coalition of Nigerian groups in Ireland made the call during a protest for the restoration of fuel subsidies held recently at the Nigerian Embassy in Dublin.
Speaking before he handed a protest letter to the Nigerian ambassador, coalition spokesperson Deju Adenuga added that the Nigerian government should work harder to eradicate corruption.
In the last few weeks alone, thousands have fled from cities in northeastern Nigeria following the killings of southerners by Boko Haram and limited revenge attacks on both mosques and northerners.
Over 200 people are believed to have died in an attack by the Islamist group in Kano on 20 January.
Cllr Rotimi Adebari, the Nigerian-born former Mayor of Portlaoise who was a guest speaker at the protest, said Nigerians had come out to show their concern about the situation at home because they are passionate about the country.
“We want peace. We want things to work well in Nigeria the same way they work here,” he said.
While acknowledging that “governance is difficult”, Cllr Adebari said President Jonathan should do more to enable the people to see the benefits of democracy.
The protest – which included members of the Association of Nigerian Professionals in Ireland (ANPI), the Nigeria Association Network Ireland (Nani), Nigerians in Ireland (Niire), and Occupy Nigeria-Ireland – also heard from a number of ad hoc speakers, one of whom suggested that the Nigerian government find ways of making the oil endowment a positive thing for the country.
“All oil producing countries do not suffer except Nigeria,” he said, adding a call for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to reveal the costs of producing oil in the country, to enable Nigerians to understand what is happening in the sector.
Addressing the assembly, Nigerian Ambassador to Ireland Felix Pwol assured protesters that the views they expressed “are well taken”. He urged them to continue to dialogue with every Nigerian, including government officials, as a way of finding solutions to the country’s numerous problems.
Since the protest, the Nigerian government has reduced the price of oil from $0.86 to $0.60 per litre.
Meanwhile, the protest was described by some in attendance as “completely disorganised” at the outset, only kicking into life at the insistence of the embassy’s deputy head of mission Georges Alabi, who urged the crowd to “demonstrate that you are organised”.
