Police Arrest 30 Unemployed Graduates During Protest In Bayelsa
Photo: Channels TV
By SaharaReporters, New York
Police in Bayelsa on Tuesday dispersed hundreds of youths protesting in Yenogoa, capital of Bayelsa State over the high rate of unemployment.
Eyewitnesses told SaharaReporters that police officers from the Bayelsa police command mercilessly beat up the jobless youths and arrested more than 30 of them, including five main organizers of the demonstration.
A source disclosed that the arrested demonstrators were being detained in cells at the State Criminal Investigation Department. “They’re undergoing interrogation for their roles in the protest,” a police source said.
The demonstrating unemployed graduates numbered more than 150. The youths had staged a peaceful protest in the state capital over the state government's neglect and insensitivity to their plight.
The graduates had given a 30-day ultimatum to Governor Seriake Dickson to lift the embargo on employment in the civil service in order to absorb more of the job-seeking graduates.
The protesters were organized under the aegis of Unemployed Graduates Forum of Bayelsa. Several of their leaders told SaharaReporters that they had made efforts to meet with some top government officials to resolve the crisis.
“Our efforts were fruitless as the one-month ultimatum given to the government to create 20,000 jobs for jobless graduates had lapsed without a shift by the Dickson administration,” one of the protest leaders told SaharaReporters.
The protesting youths were arrested near Yenizue-Gene in Yenagoa by teams of policemen and operatives of the state-run security outfit called “Operation Doo Akpo.”
An eyewitness reported a huge stampede at the Yenizue-Gene area of Yenagoa as a police reinforcement moved into the area in 10 vans. The police managed to arrest more than 30 persons while the rest fled the scene.
The protesters, who were dressed in white T-shirts with inscriptions that read “We need jobs,” “Give us jobs,” said they would not be intimidated by the arrest of their members.
One of the protesters’ spokesmen, Anthony Joseph, a mechanical engineering graduate, said they had notified the police command three weeks ago about the protest.
“We are fighting a just cause,” said Mr. Joseph. “Most of our graduates have been unemployed for between five, seven years and ten years. We have met the Commissioner for Science and Technology and other top government functionaries in the state on the need to create jobs for us, but all efforts proved abortive.”
The spokesman added, “The government should come and ameliorate our plight. We are pleading with the government to create jobs for us.” He called on the police to release detained protesters.
Alex Akhigbe, the police public relations officer for the Bayelsa police command, confirmed the arrest of the protesters. He added that they were being interrogated.
Mr. Akhigbe conceded that the group had informed the police command of their protest, but stated that the police had not granted a permit.
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