Protest: We’re big brother, our youths shouldn’t imitate ‘small’ Kenya – Deputy speaker

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has said Nigeria is a big brother in Africa and youths in the country should not imitate what is done in the “smaller” nation.

Kalu made the comment on Arise TV on Thursday, over the planned nationwide protest in the country over hardship and the cost of living crisis.

Youths in Kenya are in the seventh week of protest in their country, sparked by a controversial tax bill.

The protest took a violent turn on June 25, culminating in the torching of government buildings, vandalisation of public infrastructure, and looting of grocery stores.

“Why the news about the protest got to the highest point at the moment is because Kenya had an outing,” Kalu said.

“Kenya is a smaller country compared to 240 million people. Kenya is a small country compared to Nigeria. We can’t be taking examples of this kind of ugly outing from countries like Kenya.

“I don’t mince words. I said it on the floor of the parliament. They (Kenya) should copy from us. They should copy that when policies are laid down, these policies take time to mature for implementation.

“And we should show them that there are non-kinetic approaches to the resolutions of issues rather than conflict, coercion and crisis.

“Why are we the bigger brothers in Africa if we do what lesser countries do? What example are we giving to them?

“If we carry on with this protest, a lot of other smaller countries would be involved because Nigeria has done it. We would not be doing only this nation a disservice, the subregion would go into chaos as well as Africa as a continent.

“We have to think about those who are watching us as their big brother and look at where the solutions lie.”

Kalu also appealed for patience from youths, stating that President Bola Tinubu needs time to fix the country,