From Desmond Mgboh Kano

The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Wednesday, lamented the fate of Nigerians under the Tinubu administration, insisting that many Nigerian families and businesses  suffered huge difficulties and painful challenges in previous year.

A New Year message issued by the National Vice Chairman of the party (North West) Abba Sule Namatazu regretted that the standard of living of most  Nigerians had plummeted while the nation’s currency had nose-dived against the bench mark currencies both situations the statement said hadled to the spread of poverty, insecurity and chaos.

The statement submitted that at 64 and with a 25 years of uninterrupted democracy,  Nigerians deserve a much better standard of living than what their present circumstances

It regretted that Nigeria has become the “Poverty capital of the world where life expectancy is among the lowest in the world. Nigeria has one of the highest infant mortality rate and has consistently futures at the apex of global corruption index and at the bottom of human development index.

“Nigeria is now a place where “elected” and appointed leaders are busy sending their children to study in some of the most prestigious institutions globally while the children of the poor are left in the street scavenging for what to eat not to talk of going to school.

“Once once-vibrant communities have been uprooted, hundreds of thousands displaced, killed, and or maimed. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of productive agricultural lands across the North-East, North-West and North-Central have been abandoned leading to unprecedented food crises across the nation” the statement added.

“The PRP believes a concerted effort involving all stakeholders should be mounted to confront the issue head-on. The experiences of fellow African countries like Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania who were able to dealt with similar threat in the past should inspire us in this onerous task.

“Governments should stop the practice of negotiating with the terrorists as that will embolden them and encourage others to take up arms against the state or rival communities at the slightest opportunity. Where necessary, communities should be trained and armed to defend themselves.

“Governments need to invest more in training of security personnel, welfare, intelligence gathering, provision of requisite equipment as well as fighting corruption within the security establishment if we desire to crush the recalcitrant terrorists, and deter would-be terrorists from approaching our borders.

“We are disappointed that more than a year since the beginning of agitation for salary increase, and months after the passage of national assembly act on minimum wage, neither the government nor the private sector has fully implemented it. We therefore appeal to all stakeholders to as a matter of priority begin implementing the minimum wage in order to avert a possible industrial action which could have a negative impact on the struggling economy

“The recent increase in prices of petrol and other petroleum derivatives have brought the economy to its knees; businesses are closing, airports, roads and markets are deserted, and millions have either lost or are on the verge of losing their jobs and means of livelihood with attendant consequences.

 

“The PRP is calling on the Federal government to rescind policies which resulted in the high prices of petroleum products and increased poverty in the land, and to immediately ban the importation of all petroleum derivatives which can be produced locally.

“We believe a liter of petrol can be sold at less than N400 (without the subsidy) if the leaders are sincere and have the interest of the country at heart. This way economic activities will thrive throughout the country, reduce unemployment, youth restiveness and poverty. It will also help in qualitative IGR nationwide.

While acknowledging the need for reforming of existing tax laws to reflect the current reality, we wish to remind the Federal Executive arm that tax issue is a national issue which  should be handled by professionals with full participation of critical stakeholders, and not by a select team of consultants some of whom are not conversant with the nation’s reality” the statement held.

“We therefore call for a wider consultation in order to arrive at a just, robust and reliable tax system that will serve the overall interest of the nation” the statement held.

“The recently conducted local government elections by some states constituted electoral umpires leaves much to be desired; it is not only a travesty of democracy but of rule of law as well’ said the statement.

“Parties other than the ruling party (in all the states) are forced to withdraw from participation due to the many undemocratic and unlawful obstacles created by the state governments to ensure that only the hand-picked candidates of the ruling party will come out victorious in the end, all in a bid to subvert the rule of law and  circumvent the local government financial autonomy ruling of the Supreme Court “.

We (PRP) call on Nigerians to rise up and demand for good governance and accountability from our leaders, and to discharge their responsibilities in every sphere of life” the statement concluded.