Lai Mohammed
Major opposition party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, (ACN) has called on Jonathan/Sambo administration to be more serious with governance this year in order to reduce the hardship which his government had inflicted on Nigerians, especially in the previous year.
The party said this in a New Year message in Lagos Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
According to ACN, since Nigeria began to experience democratic rule as from 1999, the year 2012 happened to be the worst year for Nigerians.
The party noted that Jonathan’s government shocked the entire nation on January 1, 2012 with the removal of fuel subsidy, noting that the administration ensured that Nigerians paid through their nose from that moment until the end of the year.
The statement reads in part: “Mr. President, that singular act of your administration helped to erode whatever trust Nigerians reposed in you. Since trust is a critical element between the government and governed, you must begin to rebuild trust by delivering on your promises, since trust can neither be decreed nor forced.
‘’Suffice it to say that Nigerians cannot and will not trust an administration that promises to fight corruption but has presided over the worst cases of corruption in the history of the country; Nigerians cannot and will not trust an administration that set up committees after committees to probe the oil sector, only to dump the reports of the committees in the garbage can! And Nigerians cannot and will not trust a spendthrift administration that wastes scarce resources on flimsy projects like banquet halls and mansions for a few government officials, when millions are jobless and homeless,’’ ACN said.
ACN urged President Jonathan to drop his shapeless Transformation Agenda in favour of a compact programme that will bring about security, job creation, infrastructural development and fight against corruption.
It said: “The Jonathan Administration trumpets economic growth figures with glee, but of what use is economic growth that has not translated to better lives for the people, create jobs, put food on the table and make our roads more motorable?
‘’Despite this so-called economic growth, the reality of the Nigerian situation is that more of our youths are daily meandering through traffic in our major cities selling toothpicks, rat poison and pure water. What does this so-called economic growth figures mean to them?
‘’In 2013, the Jonathan Administration must jettison cooked-up economic growth figures and make a concerted effort to reverse the situation that has seen an estimated 11 million Nigerian children out of school, 46 per cent of our youths unemployed, made Nigeria a country with one of the highest rates of road crashes in the world, put the country’s life expectancy at a mere 51.9 years (compared with 62.7 for Gabon, 73.4 for Mauritius and 74 for Libya) and the indignity of annually seeing the country ranked among the most corrupt,’’ ACN said
The party while wishing Nigerians a Happy New Year, prayed that the year 2013 would be better for all.
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