POLITICS
Atiku: Latest NBS poverty report calls for concern
By Johnson Eyiangho
The Presidential Candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, has expressed concern overthe poverty level in the country in the latest report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Atiku expressed the the concern in statement by Mr. Phrank Shaibu, hisbSpecial Assistant , Public Communication, on Thursday.
Shaibub said the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday about the multidimensional height of poverty level in the country called for concern, more so that, in Buhari’s Nigeria, there had been no convincing measures being taken to indicate that anything concrete was being done about it.
He said data after data by governmental and non-governmental organisations had underlined the fact that the number of Nigerians living in poverty was alarmingly high.
”Included in this troubling reality is that over 23 million youths, mostly educated and potentially productive, are unemployed.
”This development portends only one thing: a threat to the security and stability of the Nigerian nation.
”From the monetary perspective, the Central Bank of Nigeria, whose job it is to check inflation claims that it is doing its best to ensure that the overall prices for goods and services remain low, stable and predictable even as records on the ground point to the contrary,” he said.
He said although the Buhari administration claimed to be empowering potential investors; big and small so as to improve people’s lives, records showed that 54.7 percent of Nigerians are financially excluded due to low level bank penetration in the country, and that beside the 916 Microfinance Banks, the 24 ‘big banks’ have only a little over 6000 branches, mostly concentrated in a few urban centres.
”To worsen matters, the social safety net scheme introduced by the federal government in 2016, to tackle poverty and hunger has not made any significant impact owing to poor implementation, corruption allegation and politicization.
According to hom, only a sensible government will reckon that by redirecting public expenditure away from recurrent expenses and unnecessary consumption back to capital projects, the government can have positive impact on incomes and employment. Such newly-employed individuals can in turn pay their bills, rent and essentials, thus providing income to the farmers, herdsmen, landlords and the like.
He said, ”Industrial policy, the kind that is encapsulated in Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s blueprint, is another area to concentrate on.
”A nation of 200 million people cannot abandon its manufacturing sector in favour of importation. We must ensure that most of what we eat, drink, wear or otherwise use on daily basis are locally produced, thereby creating local employment and saving foreign exchange.
”The current policy thrust may give government additional revenue but it is actually wasting scarce resources and generating more jobs and incomes for foreign countries,” he said.
Shaibu said that within the industrial sector, more employment opportunities need to be created,adding that the worn out excuse that the sector donot generate much employment because it is capital intensive had been discredited by the example of big countries like Russia and Brazil, as well as small ones like Trinidad and Tobago.
”So far, we seem to focus mainly on what taxes, fees or royalties we can extract rather than developing the upstream and downstream sectors, through the creation of integrated complexes to provide chemicals, plastics and other industrial inputs for our industrial uses and export. The days of simply exporting crude should by now have been over.
”It is for the purpose of departing from Buhari’s legacy of poverty that Atiku’s policy document code-named Unity-SEED, which stands for Unity, Security, Economy, Education and Devolution of power to states and local governments lays emphasis on Promoting diversification and linkages between agriculture, industry and micro and small enterprises.
He said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate would give priority to the promotion of sustained non-oil sector growth and enhanced linkages between the oil and non-oil sectors, if elected.
”In pursuit of a policy of diversification, Atiku shall support the development of a commercially-driven, technology-proficient agriculture which ensures food security and interfaces with the manufacturing sector for the supply of raw materials. The policy document projects increased agricultural output from the current level of N23.85 trillion to about N40 trillion by 2029. This would imply an annual growth in agricultural sector from 4.11% to 10% between 2023 and 2029.
”One thing is clear from what the Wazirin Adamawa brings to the table: that agriculture remains the most viable sector if unemployment and low income are to be properly tackled. This is understandable since agriculture still provides most of our people with their only employment and source of income, and contributes more to GDP than the petroleum sector.
A two-term member of Edo House of Assembly, Mr Ojezele Osesua, has dumped Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for All Progressives Congress (APC).
Osesua, representing Esan South-East Constituency, announced his defection on Monday in Benin at a news conference held at the APC state secretariat.
The development came less than two months after PDP lost the state to APC in the governorship election.
NAN also reports that the lawmaker was received by members of the State Working Committee (SWC) of the party headed by Jarrett Tenebe.
Osesua said that he decided to dump the opposition party over what he called”irreconcilable crisis.”
He said that his defection was like paying back a debt he owed the ruling when he left the party in 2020, after it had sponsored him to win election in 2019.
“In 2019, I was elected into the assembly on the platform of APC. Due to some challenges, I left the party and joined PDP after one year.
“Though I was elected on the PDP platform in 2023, I have been indebted to APC. It is that debt I have come to pay with my defection,” he said.
On his part, the APC chairman commended the legislator for joining the party.
Tenebe described Osesua as a ‘focused, election-winning’ member, adding: “It’s not APC’s fault that PDP has issues.
“You will recall that during the election campaigns, I said our doors were open and the doors are still open,” he said. (NAN)
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of politicising the recent stampedes in Abuja, Anambra, and Ibadan, where several lives were tragically lost.
In a statement issued on Monday in Abuja, the APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Felix Morka, condemned the PDP’s actions, calling them “grossly indecent, insensitive, and despicable.
”Morka criticised the opposition party for using the national grief over the stampedes to launch a political attack on the APC-led administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Morka stated, “At a time of national grief over the stampedes that resulted in the deaths of citizens, the PDP seized the moment to engage in callous political chicanery.
“Rather than genuinely commiserate with the victims and their families, the PDP chose to politicise the tragedy, blaming the incidents on the APC government.”
He emphasised that the tragedies had united Nigerians in mourning and reflection, with a collective focus on how the incidents might have been avoided through better planning and organisation.
“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the victims and their families,” Morka added.
Morka also rebuked the PDP for exploiting the stampedes to attack the APC, particularly since the current administration was committed to addressing the challenges inherited from nearly two decades of PDP rule.
He reminded the PDP of the 2014 Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment stampede, which occurred under its administration, where many job seekers lost their lives.
“The PDP’s allegations only serve to remind us of its sordid record of maladministration and incompetence,” Morka said.
He noted that the party’s suggestion that President Tinubu’s administration was not committed to the welfare of Nigerians was “mischievous and out of touch with reality.”
He pointed to the current administration’s efforts to invest in alternative energy sources and the introduction of the Credit Corps scheme and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
Morka also highlighted salary reviews for workers and increased allowances for corps members as part of the government’s commitment to improving the welfare of Nigerians.
Morka further highlighted the government’s commitment to provide free and subsidised transportation during the holiday period, approving grants for farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and other humanitarian initiatives.
He asserted that this administration is “the most people-centric in our history.”
He also dismissed the PDP’s claim that the APC’s policies had damaged the economy.
“For years, successive PDP governments operated a phantom economy riddled with distortions and corruption, deceiving Nigerians into believing the economy was thriving.”
Morka commended President Tinubu for suspending his scheduled activities to honour the victims and expressed condolences to the families affected by the tragedies.
He wished a speedy recovery to those injured in the incidents.(NAN)
By Mike Odiakose, Abuja
Journalists covering the Senate have honoured Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin, with award on highest number of private member Bills sponsorship.
Records on Private Member Bills sponsorship among serving Senators in the 10th National Assembly , obtained from Rules and Business office , indicated that Senator Barau tops with 21 bills within the last 18 months.
One of the 21 private member bills sponsored by Senator Barau was the NorthWest Development Commission Bill which is now an Act of Parliament legalising the creation of North West Development Commission (NWDC) after assented to, by President Bola Tinubu.
Barau in his response to the honour, said it would make him to do more for his constituents in Kano North Senatorial District and Nigerians generally.
”Your recognition of my legislative inputs in the Senate within the last 18 months, particularly on series of development – driven bills sponsored so far, is something that will energize and propel me further to do more.
“Once you are given an award, it’s a kind of telling you to go and do more. To whom much is given, much is expected.
”This to me also is considered as your contribution to making sure that the legislature remains vibrant.
”Once you identify those who are doing well and you honour them through awards of this nature, that will create some kind of competition and will propel others to do more so that they can be recognized at some other time in the future.
”We can’t perform here in the best manner possible, without your contribution to what we are doing. And you are contributing in a very robust way to what we do here, making us as partners in progress for the good of Nigeria and Nigerians .
”So our relationship with you is sine qua non to our success. We can never succeed without you because without you reporting what happens here , Nigerians can’t know what we are doing,“ he said .
Earlier, the Chairman of the Corps, James Itodo, told the DSP that the honour is strictly on performance as contained in the records and not for any other thing.
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