A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olisa Agbakoba has warned of a potential mass protest in view of the current economic crisis in the country.
Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, urged the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration to act fast to prevent the country from descending into chaos.
He made the remark in Lagos on Tuesday while addressing some journalists.
Not a few Nigerians have also warned that the country could be thrown into chaos as a result of massive poverty due to current economic challenges.
Experts warn that angry Nigerians could replicate the protest in Kenya, where youths in the country have almost shut down the government of President William Ruto due to the economic crisis in the east African nation.
President Ruto was last week forced by protesting youths to abandon the signing of a bill passed by the country’s legislature, meant to increase taxes.
Agbakoba warned that “riot can occur anytime in Nigeria” if Nigerians were pushed to the wall.
He said, “Hunger riot can occur anytime in Nigeria,” Agbakoba said, advising Tinubu to restructure his cabinet and cut the cost of governance.
“President Tinubu needs to dismantle the cabinet. Having over 40 ministers is too large. We don’t need more than 20 ministries.”
The Source magazine reported that many Nigerians have been further pushed into poverty due to some austerity measures introduced by the Tinubu administration, including the removal of subsidies from petrol and convergence of Naira exchange rate.
