… As issues of insecurity and redesign of currency takes center stage
Highlighting a list of problems bedeviling the country and that has plunged the economy into a downwards trend, Nigerians have been urged to focus on safeguarding the nation, as they have kept quiet for too long.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, during a media breifing, Presidential Candidate for the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Dumebi Kachikwu said that the security advisory by some Western Nations and the departure of Embassy officials has led to panic amongst Nigerians and has left everyone wondering what was happening in the country.
Dumebi noted that the present administration has failed in its duties to respond to the rumour concerning the release of convicted terrorist as an exchange to secure freedom for the remaining Kaduna train captives.
He said, “It had been an eventful past one week. The security advisory by some of the western nations and the departure of embassy officials and their families has led to panic amongst Nigerians. Even though President Buhari has sought to assure Nigerians that all is well one begins to wonder what is really going on.
“The President failed to respond to rumours that some convicted terrorists were released to secure the freedom of the remaining Kaduna train captives. Some now accuse his government of undermining the efforts of our men and women in the field by the indiscriminate release of those who have sworn to destroy our way of life. Only the President can confirm if this is true or not.”
According to him, Nigerians now live in fear of the unknown as they wonder if they could be in the right place at the wrong time and the highways have gotten worse as bandits now take on and kill convoys with several policemen saying that if those with a retinue of police aides were being attacked and, in some cases killed, then who is safe in Buhari’s Nigeria?
He stated that, “as if this is not bad enough the President continues to destroy the Nigerian economy with wrong and ill-timed policies that mostly benefit a few. Millions are daily thrown into the poverty bracket. Our middleclass has been wiped out as the dollar today exchanges for N800 and above. Diesel which powers most businesses and industries retails for around N900. A bag of local rice sells for N50,000 in some parts of Nigeria. A bag of Dangote cement retails for N4100. Mind you cement is the building block for the construction industry and that same construction industry is a key driver of any economy. You can’t take what you are not giving.
“One begins to wonder if this government is deliberately trying to set a record of creating the greatest number of poor people in the shortest period possible. How do you explain timing of the re-design of the naira? The sensible thing to do is weigh the pros and cons before taking such a decision which has further weakened the naira. How many Nigerians actually store money in their homes as is being speculated? Do we further destroy the naira because of a few Nigerians?
“Why can’t our security agencies up their game, identify those who have been speculated to store billions in their homes and then use legal means to recover the money. By the way who says all money stored at home is ill-gotten wealth? There are those who simply don’t trust banks or don’t want to incur the extortionist bank charges imposed by some banks.”
The ADC Presidential flagbearer noted that the country’s economy was in tatters while the managers of our economy fight over who informed who or who got Presidential approval.
He explained that as the naira continued to plunge, more businesses were at the verge of collapsing stressing that, “business will collapse this week. Thousands will be thrown into the employment market daily. This is our reality. We can’t continue to keep quiet while our President continues to pauperise us. I call on President Buhari to convene an emergency economic summit. We all need to get involved in this conversation. It is meaningless to keep on talking about the 2023 general elections when our present realities suggest that we might not have a nation by that time. We can’t continue acting like we don’t know tens of millions of Nigerians are unemployed and impoverished. The western nations are seeing the trends of Feudal Lords taking over Nigeria.”
On fighting insecurity if he eventually emerge President come 2023, Dumebi disclosed that issues of insecurity had gone beyond legislation adding that modern warfare technologies should be used to fight the menace because the war was more of idealogies.
“Their plight gets worse as our economy gets worse. When is breaking point? The President can’t keep on saying he is fighting inflation yet in an import dependent economy small businesses are paying up to N5 million to clear a 20ft container and up to N9million for a 40ft container. Who is advising our President? Inflation begins from your ports. This government is killing small businesses. If the President is serious about strengthening the naira, he should find out how many new export oriented businesses Nigerian banks funded in the last one year.
“He should find out how many new businesses Nigerian banks funded in the last 10 months. We can’t keep on deceiving ourselves,” he continued.
