As Nigeria yet achieves another anniversary of the return to democratic governance (May 29), Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives has, after its claimed stock taking of the performance of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration, declared it a failure.
The caucus in its assessment, said “with the government’s failure to check worsening insecurity and mass killing of citizens; its intrinsic corruption, mismanagement of our national economy, as well as the unrelenting assault on our national diversity, the APC administration at the center has failed on all fronts in the last six years”.
The position which was contained in a statement issued on Friday, and signed by Minority Leader of the House, Ndudi Elumelu, stated in part; “As lawmakers, our caucus is worried that exclusionist tendencies, trade restrictions, nepotism in government appointments, disregard to rule of 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 percent unemployment rate, a scary 18.12 percent 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 disorganized 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.
“As representatives of the people, the minority caucus is worried that our nation is heading towards a failed state. We therefore urge President Muhammadu Buhari to buckle up and use the occasion of May 29 to address the failures of his administration by taking 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 our economy”.
