Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has stated without mincing words that 2019 has not been a good year for Nigerians.
Speaking via a statement that was made public by his media office, he went on to call on the federal government to promote/implement policies that would enable a better living condition for Nigerians in 2020.
Full statement below:
“It is incumbent on government at all levels to pursue policies that will provide decent housing to the mass majority; put food on the table; provide healthcare and education.”
“We cannot continue to do things the same way and expect a different outcome. It is therefore high time we caused a rejig of economic policies that will promote an expansion of the economy and create jobs opportunities aplenty.
“At the individual level, this moment calls for more empathy and sacrifice. The New Year and a new decade come with the opportunity to make better impressions in our lives and in the lives of people around us.
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“I wish to restate that our collective call for rule of law and our history about the struggle for democratic rule did not envisage a situation where judicial pronouncements would be worth less than the paper upon which they are rendered.
“It is a bad advertisement for the country and its democracy if declarations made by the court are not respected without the executive arm of government agreeing to same.
“I do not share the sentiment when some people claim that the outgone 2019 was a successful year for Nigerians. Such sentiments is reductionist and does the harm of making us have a false sense of victory.”
He called on Nigerians to challenge inadequacies, saying the country cannot” afford to slumber and submit to defeat”.
“The problems of extreme poverty and scant investments in education play huge roles in fueling the problems of violent extremism that we spent the past decade contending with,” he said.
“We cannot win the fight against terrorism if we do nothing to reduce or eliminate poverty and illiteracy.
“The reality of this new decade requires of us to re-calibrate our approaches and to pursue some tough choices. If failure is not an option, then we must let go of our egos and conveniences.”
