State of the nation: Senior citizens send 10-point wish list to Buhari

AMIDST seething public anger over the prevalent economic hardship in the land, some senior citizens have sent a 10-point wish list to President Muhammadu Buhari.

They are convinced that his prompt action on the critical issues that were responsible for the palpable tension and frustration among majority of Nigerians could pull the country out of dire strait.

Part of their demands are proactive measures on socio-economic and political issues capable of averting further tension in the country.

The other key components of the demands include total overhaul of the president’s economic team, new strategies to restore peace to the Niger Delta and how to boost the foreign exchange earnings of the country.

Others include a holistic review of the forex policy that has made a mincemeat of the local currency against the dollar; restructuring of the country; dialogue with genuine elders and leaders of ethnic nationalities towards addressing ethnic agitations, as well as arrest and prosecution of the sponsors and perpetrators of ethno-sectarian violence.

The elder statesmen, who cut across a broad spectrum of the society and geo-political zones include former  governors, ministers and lawmakers among whom are former Cross Rivers State governor, Obong Victor Attah, Senator Femi Okunrounmu, and Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife.

Obong Attah, said the government should as a matter of priority work out how states could be empowered to control their resources towards harnessing them to the benefit of their people.

A strong advocate of true federalism, Attah said the realistic solution to the prevailing economic logjam in the country was to restructure the polity and enthrone fiscal federalism.

According to him, the enthronement of true federalism will give the component states the powers to control their resources and strengthen their socio-economic and political institutions.

He frowned on the lopsided distribution of resources from the centre, especially on the basis of population, arguing that such arrangement only make some states lazy.

In the same vein, Dr Ezeife decried what he described as prevalent acute hunger in the country, coupled with the seeming lack of a meaningful agenda to tackle the miasma of challenges.

He was, however, optimistic that the country would survive the current challenges “because God had a purpose for creating Nigeria and making her the hope of the Black race.”

He said the government should revisit the report of the 2014 National Conference by implementing the fundamental recommendations on restructuring in the interest of peace and progress.

Speaking with Sunday Tribune, Senator Femi Okurounmu, noted that the masses are in a state of deep poverty, based on the daily increase in prices of basic needs.

The submitted that many factories are winding up with many business operators laying off their workers, thereby lowering productivity and increasing unemployment level.

“There’s hyper inflation in the land, which means that almost on a daily basis, prices of goods are going up. The people can no longer live on their salaries and yet the meagre salaries are not paid regularly. All men and women who depend on their pension are not paid. Graduates cannot get jobs. Our factories are daily closing down thereby reducing production and laying workers off.

“Unemployment has increased since this administration took over in less than two  years. Power generation has collapsed. Many times, people go for weeks without power. The total power from national grid is now consistently less than 2,000 megawatts and frequently goes to zero.

“There are many infrastructural development works, which are currently being awarded to foreigners , especially the Chinese. These Chinese could not be as good as many of our graduates. All these projects could be successfully carried out by our youths to make them to be gainfully employed.

Similarly, another former member of the upper legislative house, Senator Adegbenga Kaka, said that the nation’s leaders were yet to come to terms on the downturn in the oil sector, which had over the years, been the mainstay of the economy.

He advocated restructuring of the polity via-a-vis fiscal structure, and the possibility of returning to regional system of government.

“There are lots of things that are wrong with us as a nation, that is making the system not to work. We are yet to absorb the shock from the downturn in the oil sector which happens to be our mainstay. Badly enough, we are still not approaching the solution in the right way. Taking of monumental loan by the state and the federal government without improving on production capacity is bound to worsen the situation . I believe we should start with the restructuring of our polity,” he added.

Similarly, a former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Chris Ekpenyong, lamented the prevailing economic crisis since the emergence of the APC – led government at the centre and blamed it on lack of an economic think-tank.

“The president should have and an economic team,” he stressed recalling that past administrations, had sgrong economic teams that always rise to the occasion.

On sectarian violence, Ekpenyong kicked against violent agitations as a way out of the problem in the polity, saying: “violence has never achieved anything meaningful.”

While advocating “true dialogue with genuine elders and leaders of Niger Delta” to resolve the ongoing crisis in the region, he appealed to all armed groups, as well as the Biafran State agitators to embrace dialogue.

On his part, Professor Olu Obafemi, of the Department of English, University of Ilorin, blamed lack of direction and focus for the current predicament of the country.

“We need a sense of direction. We need committed leadership. We need visionaries who can look beyond this moment. Our problems are so obvious, so we have to create envisioned structures, economic structures, political structures, and who can get policies there that can help galvanise the abundant potentials of our nation to the betterment and improvement of the human condition.

“We need leaders, who are tolerant; leaders who are above board in terms of sectarianism; leaders who are Nigerians to the core, who are concerned about destiny of Nigeria.

“In specific terms, Nigerians, for good or for ill, believed that the APC could do it. It is my hope that the hope and aspirations of Nigerians are not disappointed at the end. And if they were, Nigeria can stumble and rise again. I’m an incurable optimist. I believe that we can totter but we must not fall. We can fall and stand up. That’s the quality of a nation, if we have leaders who can lift us up,’’ he said

Another elder statesman and member APC Board of Trustee, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande, particularly asked the government to pay special attention to the crises in Southern Kaduna and other parts of the country.

He accused those in leadership positions of fanning the embers of discord for their selfish political gain, adding that the issues of religion and ethnicity had become strong factors to promote all manner of interests.

Kwande demanded a thorough investigation and prosecution of those behind sectarian violence and killings.

Former member of House of Representatives, Honourable Simon Mwadkon in his own contribution warned that the raging hostility between the Fulani and natives of Southern Kaduna might snowball into war and engulf the nation if not properly handled, even as he called for the prosecution of Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.