More than a dozen non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations have reminded President Bola Tinubu that he is yet to engage the Nigerian people’s demands.

Addressing Tinubu in a statement following his Sunday morning speech, they urged him to meet the protesters’ demands, as some of them are low-hanging fruits.

They also warned that should security agents continue their assault on protesters, a dialogue to bring the protests to a peaceful end may become unattainable.

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“On Sunday, the fourth day of the nationwide #EndBadGovernance peaceful protests, the president finally addressed the nation,” read the statement, titled The President is Yet to Engage the People’s Demands.

“In the 38-paragraph speech, he highlighted some of the government’s policies to course-correct the economy largely in the medium to long term. Unfortunately, he did not address the core demands of Nigerians across the country who are calling for good governance and immediate change from the downward trend in accountability and social development.

“He also failed to acknowledge that the security force’s response to protesters had resulted in the extra-judicial killing of several protesters, and missed the opportunity to assure the nation that their perpetrators will be held accountable.”

The CSOs urged the government not to forget that sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria, from whom government, through this Constitution, derives all its powers and authority.”

“Over the last few weeks, Nigerians have planned, mobilised, curated different demands, and given the government adequate notice,” they said.

“We recognise that citizens have taken ownership of the demand to #EndBadGovernance and have contributed to the list of demands in circulation from their pain points. As civil society groups and stakeholders in the polity, we have streamlined the demands based on consultations, to midwife a peaceful and holistic engagement of issues by the government, and the table below shows how the president responded, in his speech, to each of the five core demands.

“Except for increased investment in agriculture and student loan disbursements, the demands that require process were ignored completely – (1) Protect farms & farmers; (2) Human capital development; (3) Electoral reform; (4) Establish a living wage; and (5) Constitutional & judicial reforms.”

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They noted that since the president had expressed the government’s openness to dialogue with protesters on these demands, it should be pursued by officials and representatives of both sides with sincerity of purpose.

“This should begin with an immediate release of all arrested peaceful protesters and sanctions against security agents who attacked unharmed peaceful protesters,” they said.

“We remind the government that should security forces continue to aggravate protesters, it may become difficult to broker dialogue. It is our recommendation that representatives of the National Peace Committee and reputable civil society groups serve as facilitators and observers of this dialogue process and its outcomes.

“The protesters have said they will continue their peaceful demands on the streets until Saturday, August 10. We urge the federal government to concede the low-hanging requests as a reassurance of its commitment to citizen-centered governance and leadership.”

The statement was signed by Accountability Lab Nigeria, BudgIT Foundation, Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Enough is Enough (EiE) Nigeria, #FixPolitics and Global Rights.

Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), Sesor Empowerment Foundation, TechHer, Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and Yiaga Africa make up the list