May 29: Nigeria heading towards a failed state, Reps warn

As the nation marks 22 years of unbroken democracy today, the Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has reviewed the performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration, declaring that the country was heading towards a failed state.

The caucus led by Mr. Ndudi Elumelu urged President Muhammadu Buhari to buckle up and take urgent steps to tackle insecurity, ensure respect for rule of law, end corruption in his government, adopt a more inclusive approach to governance and engage better hands to manage the economy.

In a statement, yesterday, the caucus noted: “As lawmakers, our caucus is worried that exclusionist tendencies, trade restrictions, nepotism in government appointments, disregard to rule law, relegation of constitutional order and principles of separation of powers; abuse of human rights, electoral malpractices, harassment of opposition and arrogant insensitivity to the sensibilities of the Nigerian people by the APC administration have occasioned instability, economic crisis and avoidable acrimony that are threatening our corporate existence as a country.

“Poor policies by the APC administration have stifled the economy and put the nation in dire strait with a disturbing 33.3 per cent unemployment rate, a scary 18.12 per cent inflation rate, over N32.9 trillion accumulated debt burden, a progressively devalued currency and collapsed infrastructure.

“Failure of the government to address escalated insecurity challenges has crippled the agricultural sector and disorganised commercial activities leading to imminent food crisis with cost of food and other necessities of life skyrocketing beyond the reach of Nigerians.

“Nigeria, under the APC administration, has now become the poverty capital of the world, ranking 98th out of 107 in Global Hunger Index, with 22.95 food inflation rate and increasing morbidity and mortality rates.”

The caucus, however, commended the commitment of governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in giving hope to the nation through their excellent performance in key sectors despite the daunting challenges.

“These governors have displayed unmatched leadership competence in developing their states through economic empowerment of citizens and massive infrastructural investments in key sectors of agriculture, education, healthcare, transportation, water resources, industrialisation, aviation, road infrastructure and security among others.

“Indeed, the performance of the governors elected on the platform of the PDP has further demonstrated that with the right type of leadership and ideological drive of a pan-Nigeria political party, such as the PDP, our nation will obviously come of the woods of misrule.

“We therefore call on Nigerians to remain focused and not lose sight of the potentials and promises our nation hold despite the challenges we face today,” the statement added.