Nigerians finally allowed to protest at National Assembly

The management of the National Assembly last week granted permission to organised labour and other civil society groups to use the ground to protest against the proposed deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

This is the first time, in over 10 years, since the return of democracy that the ground will be used for its original purpose.

The groups which staged the protest included the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress, and the Labour and Civil Society Coalition.

They were addressed at the park by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour, Wilson Ake, and his Federal Character counterpart, Smart Adeyemi.

It was the first time that the arcade would be used by Nigerians to protest against any government policy since 1999 when the National Assembly Complex was commissioned by the former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar.

On that day, October 29, the management of the National Assembly engaged the services of the Federal Road Safety Commission and other relevant organisations to clear a large portion of the arcade to allow for easy use.

They directed vehicle owners to park in other parts of the park leaving a wide space on the ground for protests, in line with the original concept of the arcade.

NEXT had in April this year reported that federal lawmakers and staff of the National Assembly had turned the space into a car park, thereby denying Nigerians use of it.

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the National Assembly, Emma Okere, a retired colonel, said then that members of the public were not allowed to use the expansive arcade because of noticeable breaches by demonstrators.

Security breaches

Mr. Okere said upon assuming duties in 2005, he noticed those breaches while going through the files and decided that measures should be taken to avoid a repeat.

"People who conceived the arcade had good intentions but users don't. I noticed there were breaches by demonstrators when I went through the archives in 2005 when I assumed duties. Some demonstrators wanted to hurl stones in the arcade at a time," he said.

Mr. Okere also said that it was turned into a car park because of construction work being carried out at that time in the complex, which reduced the number of car parks but adding that it was a temporary arrangement.

He was quoted in that report as saying, "It is a temporary thing. We will soon restore the arcade to its original plan, maybe after the constructions going on in the complex. We do not enjoy turning back protesters at the gate. This place belongs to all Nigerians and they have the right to use it. We are just being cautious because we are still learning."

The Sergeant-at-Arms could not be reached last week to comment on the latest development, but the Acting Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA), Oluyemi Ogunyomi, in a brief chat with NEXT at the White House lobby on Thursday, expressed joy that the arcade is now being used for its original purpose.

Mr. Ogunyomi confirmed that it would continue to serve that purpose.

Also, the spokesperson of the Transition Monitoring Group, and election observer coalition in Nigeria, Musa Rafsanjani welcomed the development but stressed that it was not a favour.

"It is our democratic right to express our concern to legislators and that is not also a favour but a precondition for democracy. We are going to continue to demand for our rights," he said.

In the past

Before now, protesters were turned back at the first gate, which is a few meters away from the Federal Secretariat on Shehu Shagari Way.

The National Assembly security team on rare occasions did allow protesters to get to the second gate, which is under the control of a combined team of police officers and staff of the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms.

Though it wasn't for the sake of its original purpose, the arcade entered the hall of fame when a former Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo, smuggled the Senate's mace out of the National Assembly chambers, through the arcade, when he was enmeshed in contract award crisis in 2000. The late Mr. Okadigbo was then being threatened with impeachment by some of his colleagues.

The arcade

The arcade is a part of the N5.6 billion expansive National Assembly complex. The contract for the complex was awarded to ITB Nigeria Limited by the Sani Abacha military administration 13 years ago. It was however commissioned by the administration of Abdulsalami Abubakar which handed over to the civilian administration of Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999.

It was gathered that the facility was conceived and modelled after some parliamentary complex in the older democracies to enable the members of the public to organise rallies or peacefully bring their grievances before their representatives.

The arcade is round in shape, like a stadium, and is located directly in front of the main National Assembly building, popularly called the White House. It is large - probably conceived to accommodate large groups of protesters.

At the centre of the arcade, which is called "zero point", is a statue showcasing the rich culture and traditional occupations of different ethnic groups in the country. The statue called "The Mandate" was moulded by a Bini, Duke Igbinedion of 163 Sapele Road, Benin City, Edo State.

The statue depicts Nigerians from various parts of the country in their traditional attires. There are 12 of them. At the centre of the statue is a human arm holding a mace; the legislative symbol of authority. From the zero point of the arcade to each side of the road circling it is about a distance of 500 yards.

There is a tunnel from which the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives could gain access to the arcade from their offices - in the main building (White House) - to address protesters. That tunnel has since been converted to a mosque where Muslim staff of the National Assembly pray daily except on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

In the arcade there is a platform where one can stand to address the protesters. On both sides of the platform are concrete seats on which protesters are supposed to seat. Behind the seats are 18 poles bearing the green-white-green Nigerian flag. There are nine of them on each side.

Going by the National Assembly complex architectural design, the seats should have been covered with green canopies on one side and red canopy on the other, depicting the colours of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.