A support group of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the Nigeria Youth For Atiku (NYFA), has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take steps towards reducing the cost of energy and interest rate in order to de-escalate the hardship and hunger currently ravaging the country.
President of the group, Prof. Gold Emmanuel, made the appeal in a statement, a copy of which was made available to newsmen on Sunday by the group’s Director of Communications (Nigeria and Diaspora), Mr. Dare Dada, saying that the call was part of the resolution reached at the NYFA’s quarterly meeting held in Lagos on Saturday.
According to Emmanuel, such steps had become necessary to reduce economic challenges, hardship, and hunger being faced by masses and businesses, saying it was the resolve of the group led by her that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government to reconsider its stand on some of its policies that had thrown Nigeria into inflation crises and poverty, with millions of homes thrown into hunger, despair, and depression due to high cost of living.
“The meeting considered many policies of the government and its far-reaching implications on the citizens in the last 12 months of the current government.
“Hunger, despair, and depression seem to be the cheapest commodities in Nigeria at the moment. We cannot continue to inflict harsh policies on the people and expect prosperity.
“Nigerians are demoralised and unable to feed well. There is no country with as high inflation as Nigeria where people would prosper considering the poor wage and lack of incentives to cushion the effect.
“Many advanced countries are currently manoeuvring their ways out of the post-COVID effect on their economy by cutting interest rates so citizens can access cheap loans, companies can produce at a lower cost, and also reduce the cost of energy just to maintain some economic balance.
“Nigeria is not isolated from the global economic crisis that erupted after the Covid pandemic. There is a need to cushion these effects,” Prof. Emmanuel said.
Speaking further, the NYFA president equally called on the APC-led government to come down from their high horses and consider taking a cue from the economic advice offered by former Vice President Abubakar.
According to her, the APC-led government should take the advice because Atiku is a seasoned administrator and entrepreneur who has mastered the economic demography of Nigeria and understands how things can be better done.
“There is no big deal in picking from his advice to navigate out of the current economic crisis.
“If the current economic crisis continues, there is a projection that over 133 million Nigerians would have been hit with hunger by 2025.
“This will definitely not impact only productivity but amplify criminal activities such as banditry, robbery incidences, and other social vices that are inimical to the growth of the country.
“A stitch in time saves nine. We need to act now to save Nigeria,” she warned.
Prof. Emmanuel, however, commended the Tinubu government for releasing the underage minors incarcerated by the police over the #EndBadGovernance protest in August but said a thorough investigation should be conducted as to how they were being detained for that long period of time without trial.
“The focus of the government should not be on suppressing the rights of the citizens to protest but on making life more meaningful and bearable, thus increasing the standard of living for Nigerians,” she concluded.
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