By Onyeche Igwe
Former Military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has declared that the present hardship confronting Nigerians was getting out of control and called on the federal government to remedy the situation immediately.
General Abubakar made this declaration when he received the leadership of Campaign for Democracy and Human Rights, led by Comrade Abdullahi Mohammed Jabi, in his hilltop residence in Minna, Niger State, yesterday.
The group had called on the former head of state to prevail on President Bola Tinubu to remedy the situation.
Responding, Abdulsalami said: “Everybody is crying about this hardship and it seems to be getting out of control.
”People cannot afford three square meals; the issue of transportation, the hike in fuel, the hike in school fees for the children and the lack of funds in everybody’s pocket is making life difficult for everybody.”
While calling on the federal government to intervene, Abdulsalami also called on state and local governments to play their roles to ameliorate the economic hardship in the country.
“The problem at hand is everybody’s problem and this is why the three tiers of government should work hand in hand to cushion the effect the hardship has created,” he said.
The former Nigerian leader said on his part, that he has not relented in giving useful advice on the way out, adding that he would continue with the same.
He said as far as he was concerned, giving palliatives to the people was not the answer to the high prices of food and other items across the country.
Abdulsalami said: “The answer is the need for the government to flood and saturate the communities with food.
”Let the government buy food and sell it at lesser prices, so people can buy the food items of their choice, depending on their income
“We have passed these recommendations to the government and we hope they will implement it.”
On the proposed #EndBadGovernance protest slated for October 1, General Abdulsalami called for a peaceful, rather than violent protest, in order not to allow it to degenerate into violence.
“We saw unnecessary, uncalled-for carnage, theft and criminalities in the last protest. Instead of demonstrating, some went about looting even private houses and innocent people eventually suffered for it at last.
”This should not happen again and the government should also listen to the demonstrators and act swiftly because you cannot beat a child and prevent him or her from crying,” the former head of state said.
In his remarks, the leader of the delegation, Comrade Abdullahi Jabi, aside from asking the former head of state to advise the federal government to take urgent and decisive steps on the current hardship in the country, also solicited his support for the implementation of some of its programmes, especially in the area of mobilization of Nigerians for active participation in governance.
