The Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has decried the dwindling state of Nigeria’s economy which brought untold hardship on the masses, blaming it on deliberate lip service paid to governance in critical sectors by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led administration.
Comrade Debo Adeniran CDHR National President made this assertion while addressing the media in the state of the nation briefing on Thursday at the Rights House, Ikeja.
“We as activists are not happy with the President’s performance so far. During his campaign, we believed so much in him going by his antecedents as one of those that spearheaded the PRONACO in those days.
“We thought his reign would bring succour and relief to the people especially as we missed that golden opportunity during the June 12 election, but the reverse is the case right now.
“We would like to call on the President to explore the possibility of reaching out to more professionals even outside his cabinet so that his policies and programmes can have a more beneficial effect on the populace.
Comrade Adeniran who touched on the ranging issues in the nation’s polity, took out time to highlight some misnomer cited while proffering workable solutions as it pertains: corruption, high cost of foodstuffs, illegal proliferation of arms and ammunition, crude shortage and Dangote refinery, SSANU/NASU strike, deplorable state of road networks and the River State impasse amongst others.
On food security Adeniran tasked the government at various levels to stop being lazy and care free about the situation, adding that they should make concerted efforts in addressing food sufficiency given our fertile lands while charging the security agencies especially the Nigerian Armed Forces to also take to agricultural ventures, to scare away marauding herdsmen and bandits pillaging the lands across zones.
“For some time now, Nigerians have been under torment by the astronomical rise in the prices of basic foods in the marketplace. This surge is reflected mainly in the prices of garri, millet, yam, fermented cassava meal (akpu), palm oil, vegetable oil, beef, rice, beans, among others.
“The high cost of these foodstuffs is alarming primarily because these food items are staples in most homes across the land. The absence of these items would contribute seriously to hunger and malnutrition in the country. This gives room for a huge concern as the steep prices have battered the purchasing power of citizens, leading to uncertainty, an increase in poverty, and an unpalatable cost of living. The disruption caused by rising food inflation has further decimated the low wages of the people.
“A 2022 survey by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said 133 million Nigerians are living in multidimensional poverty. How on earth will the people that fall into this group be able to afford these staples which has skyrocketed beyond the reach of an ordinary Nigerians?
Incessant killings, kidnappings, and destruction of farmland have led to farmers abandoning their farmland for fear of bandits and herdsmen, thereby contributing to food shortages across the country.
“The situation is rampant in Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Katsina, and Borno, where violence plagues the states often regarded as Nigeria’s food belt. In Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, and other states, bandits and terrorists hold sway, collecting levies or tributes from farmers before they can plant or harvest their crops.
“So insecurity has contributed greatly to the high cost of food in the country. The government should make it a priority to secure lives and properties of the entire citizens of the country and not only the farmers as this would contribute immensely to the greater output and more investment opportunities in the economy of the country.
As a temporary measure, the government at every level should undertake tangible programmes to defeat hunger in the land and introduction of various social safety measures at a time like this would be a welcome development.
He stressed that the existing bottlenecks in the administration of the country was due to the refusal of the powers that be to be accountable to the people with whom the sovereign powers of the land ought to reside originally.
Regarding the academic sector Adeniran critiqued the situation citing several untoward developments from the government’s end to the workers demands.
“Recently, two non-teaching staff unions mull an indefinite strike at the expiration of a two-week strike notice, over withheld 4 months salaries, and the unpaid 13 months salaries to Abia State University workers.
“The unions are the Senior Staff Union of Universities (SSANU), and the Non-teaching Staff Union of Educational and Allied Institutions (NASU). SSANU President at a briefing in Abuja said beyond the withheld and unpaid salaries, most institutions still owe between three and six months of the N35,000 wage award as it accused the Federal government of being slow and dodgy with regards to announcing a new national minimum wage.
“Other issues the unions concerned about are the limited number of educated individuals in the reconstituted Boards of Federal tertiary institutions and the proliferation of State Universities, amidst poor funding of existing ones.
“We would like to call on the government to do everything within the ambit of the law to avert the strike considering the negative effects of the strike on the academic activities on our campuses. Their concerns should be looked into in order to avoid another industrial unrest.”
Commenting on the Dangote refinery and the seemingly no impact felt in the sector up till now by virtue of it coming up stream, the issue he said is shrouded in secrecy and that they need come out clean.
“We felt this will help reduce the hardship but unfortunately, Dangote imports crude which in clear terms is substandard to our own Brent crude. We should resist selling of substandard products. We are calling for the reintroduction of fuel subsidy given the suffering experienced by Nigerians.
“We should not pay for their inefficiency. Did the purchase go through sighting of appropriate authorities in the first place. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should block the loopholes being an accountant and someone who had knowledge of how the oil industry runs prior to now.
“As concerns mount over the lack of domestic crude oil to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, we would like the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) to inform Nigerians on what is really happening.
“If the refinery is finding it difficult to access domestic crude oil and have to rely on importation from foreign countries then what exactly is happening in our oil and gas sector.
“We would also like to align with other groups like the Independent Petroleum Producers Group who has called on President Bola Tinubu to consider declaring a state of emergency on crude oil production in Nigeria following the lingering crisis associated with this.”
On the River State impasse Adeniran maintained that the erstwhile governor of the state Nyesom Wike ought to concentrate maximally on his newly assigned task as the FCT minister and allow the democratically elected Governor of Rivers State Siminalayi Fubara to function without hinderance in any form.
“The power play that is being displayed can be likened to the Godfatherism principle commonly practiced in Nigeria’s political arena. We would not like to delve into the details of what has happened in the state in recent time but considering the prevailing circumstances, we feel strongly that all lovers of democracy should be concerned about the situation in Rivers State.
“If not properly handled, it will definitely have catastrophic consequences for our democracy as it may snowballed into other states.”