Former Military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has appealed to the Federal Government to address the biting economic hardship in the country.
Abdusalami, who made the appeal yesterday 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, said the hardship was getting out of hand.
The group had called on the former head of state to prevail on President Bola Tinubu to remedy the situation.
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.”
The former General 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 noted that 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.
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“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,” he said.
Speaking 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.
He stated: “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.”
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