While an impending Nigeria Labour Congress-led hunger protest looks sure to go ahead as planned, in the background the Federal Government of Nigeria, together with all the 36 state governors, and private sector entrepreneurs initiated an alliance to combat that same lack of food problem head-on.

The alliance is in the form of an economic advisory committee set up at the presidential suite on Sunday, 25 February. President Bola Tinubu who headed the meeting of course, had top banking executive Tony Elumelu, the United Bank for Africa chairman in his company.

Also with the president was Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote whose food production assets can no doubt deal with the unwanted starvation Nigerians are currently going through. These individuals alongside other equally brilliant economy builders all formed a band seeking to avert further difficulties a lot of people can no longer bear.

One tweet from the Presidency via the X platform confirmed that President Bola Tinubu had set up a tripartite economic advisory Committee of Federal government, sub-nationals and private sector, all of whom are expected to come up with answers as a team.

It looked like a good starter for the committee which was meeting for the first time. Pictures showed bold smiles and firm handshakes happening between the host and his guests.

President Bola Tinubu sets up a tripartite economic advisory Committee of Federal government, sub-nationals and private sector pic.twitter.com/w36LuMGpn3

— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) February 25, 2024

Before the photo ops was an address by the president telling the gathering about his Marshall Plan, which mirrors the United States Secretary of State George Marshall giving a speech at Harvard University on 5 June 1947. This was in the World War II era when much of Europe remained in ruin caused by the devastation of war and Nazi aggression.

Secretary of State George Marshall had proposed an economic recovery for all the countries whose cities had been flattened by bombs and air raids, including Germany the aggressor. President Bola Tinubu in his mind’s eye sees Nigeria achieving a similar remarkable recovery and he believes this can happen with unprecedented collaboration within the tripartite council.

Let’s look at what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong to bring life back to the economy. As I have said many times, the people of this country are only the people we have to please.

And we are very much concerned from students to mothers and fathers, farmers, the traders and realising that every one of us will have to fetch water from the same well. We’re looking for additional efforts that might help the downtrodden Nigerians and we will provide hope and reassurance that economic recovery is on its way.

We are not saying that we have all the answers. But we will not be blamed for not trying. We assure Nigerians that we will do our best to get our Marshall plan in place and fashion out the best economic future for this country.

But the sprawling towers that emerged in Europe when the implementation of George Marshall’s idea had been concluded happened because the United States Congress over four years, appropriated $13.3 billion for rebuilding and President Bola Tinubu doesn’t look like he has been spending enough within the short-term, which is why the labour unions are insisting on going ahead with a two-day protest even though the federal government says such move is illegal.

ALSO READ: How high can Nigerian workers’ minimum wage climb? Up to ₦1million according to labour union

The government said that it has touched on every item listed in a 15-point agreement reached on Monday 2 October 2023. There is [no point in] the 15-point agreement that the government has not done one thing or the other, says Ministry of Labour and Employment spokesperson Olajide Oshundun.

On the part of the ministry, we have appealed to labour to shelve the protests because what they centred their protests on is that the ministry is not keeping to the 15-point agreement reached on October 2 2023 but within the last week, the Minister of Labour and Employment in a release addressed each of the 15 points agreements.

But the union is seeing from a different point of view and would not back down despite suspicions of its members being attacked during their nationwide protest come Tuesday.

We would want the State to know that the solution to our horrible economic situation and hunger is not by suppressing peaceful dissent or inflicting violence on peacefully protesting citizens as the government did in Minna and other cities where its agents tear-gassed and beat up women before locking them up for raising their voice against hunger, part of a statement released by Nigeria Labour Congress president, Joe Ajaero on Sunday, the day the advisory committee also met.

The pangs of hunger, he adds, cannot be cowed by bullets or tear gas.