“politics is a very fluid game and the dynamics can change going forward. Hence, the possibility of getting into some form of alliances or even mergers, with other parties to salvage the present deplorable social and economic situation of the country, though presently not on the table, cannot also be totally ruled out either.”
We are worried about the direction the country is going. That is why, all measures should be placed on the table by citizens, social groups, democracy advocates, advocates of law and order in the country to ensure that a new order comes in 2027. A year that yet again, provides the citizens of this country with the opportunity to constitutionally vote out and get rid of the serially failed APC regime..
If given the opportunity our party, the NNPP have in place a dynamic manifesto that we intend to implement uncompromisingly. For example, it is unthinkable for us to compromise on our pro-people economic policy which favours the common people of the country, rather than APC’s which favours the buying of SUVs for elite politicians, And we cannot compromise on our education policy, which, any way, is the cornerstone of our manifesto, because for the NNPP, we believe that education is the ultimate investment a country can make in its youths and the coming generation. This being so, as we all know, politics is a very fluid game and the dynamics can change going forward. Hence, the possibility of getting into some form of alliances or even mergers, with other parties to salvage the present deplorable social and economic situation of the country, though presently not on the table, cannot also be totally ruled out either.
Taking about the socio-economic and political climate of the country, the general prognosis, from every indication, is that the situation will get worse. And this is despite the already tough challenges of today. Therefore, despite all the difficulties that Nigerians are going through presently, it appears that we must brace and ready ourselves for even a worse situation. The tax regime that was recently announced is completely, in my reasoning, unnecessary. The income level of people, who are majorly struggling just to exist, not to even live, is too low to cope with it..We believe this APC/Tinubu tax regime shouldn’t have been embarked upon it at all. This is because, the average wage earnings and income levels in the country are not in synch with the spiraling rate of inflation.
Governance is a thinking process. Hence, If it were to be an NNPP administration, we would have looked at it carefully, and proceeded to implement such far reaching policies gradually; systematically introducing them over a period of time, rather than as it was abruptly implemented, in one single swoop, by this APC/Tinubu administration, Take the sudden removal of the very dubious, so-called subsidy on petroleum products, which is the beginning of trouble for Nigerians under this administration. The removal was announced suddenly and implemented abruptly. If at all it is necessary to remove the fuel subsidy, Nigerians should have been prepared for it. Some measures should have been put in place to cushion the resultant difficulties; because the difficulties were very predictable. Economic policies should have been put in place to ameliorate the well anticipated inflation spiral. On the whole, a lot of groundwork should have been done for the policies to be introduced over a period of time, so that people could cope. If such cushioning measures were put in place priory, people would have easily adjusted to the unfolding realities. This is what thinking governance involves.
The worsened security situation of the country is also a very predictable fallout of the APC/Tinubu policy miss-think. Introduction of unpopular anti-people policies like the dubious subsidy removal and suffucating tax regime, will always push the desperate ones among us into criminality. That is not to say that the abductions, kidnappings were not there before the introduction of draconian economic policies. Agreed that they were not meaningfully resolved previously, yet, as it is so well known, if a problem is left un-tackled, it will only worsen over time. This is why the present deplorable security situation was so predictable. Because, rather than to abate it, the worsen economic situation serves to drive more and more people to resort to kidnapping and abduction for ransom; as desperate measures to survive.. It is a very predictable scenario. What the government should have prioritized was to tackle the security situation headlong. A starting step should have been to tweak the military-security apparatuses to live up to their statutory responsibilities. It is unbelievable that the same Nigerian Military-police security forces that will go abroad and restore peace in other countries cannot overcome issues such as kidnapping for ransom, banditry, rampant in the North-West and across the country.
The failure to prioritize security and to tackle insecurity frontally is that we are now faced with the problems of security and fixing the economy at the same time. Hence, the problems have become multidimensional. We practically brought this upon ourselves. I call on government to stand up to its responsibilities and put a permanent stop to what Nigerians are presently passing through. It is doable. Securing the country is within the ambit of the military-security establishment. It is their constitutional obligation. They should be remotivated to commit themselves to do their jobs. Rather, all we are hearing and getting are buck passing allegations – such as claims of internal sabotage within the security forces. And this is despite the bravery they have displayed and the sacrifices they have been making. Tackling insecurity is not beyond the security forces because they have the capacity to conclusively resolve the problem. Unfortunately, the problem is being compounded by the actions and inactions of the political leadership.
Related to this, succumbing to external pressures to establish foreign military bases in Nigeria will be counter-productive, and will not benefit the country in anyway. Rather than look outwards to some scheming, self-serving external benefactors to solve our self-inflicted problems, we should instead end our quarrellings and intractable in-fighting, and find the will to fight hunger, poverty and under-development – in this way, we can begin bracing up ourselves to becoming the strong nation we have the capacity to be..
Ajuji Ahmed, PhD; Acting National chairman of NNPP.