By John Adams, Minna
AS economic hardship in the country bites harder, former military head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd) has warned that the situation is getting out of control and therefore urged the government to act fast.
“The hardship in the land is getting out of control,” he declared at his uphill residence in Minna when he received the leadership of the Campaign for Democracy and Human Rights led by Abdullahi Mohammed Jabi who paid him a birthday visit, yesterday.
The visitors had asked the former head of state to prevail on President Bola Tinubu to find a solution to the hunger in the country.
Responding, General Abdulsalami said: “Everybody is crying of 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, Nigerians are suffering.
“We will continue to encourage the government to introduce measures to soften the hardship” adding that ” the federal, states and local governments should see how they can cushion this economic hardship.”
The former military leader, however, disclosed that he belongs to a forum that had made recommendations to the federal government on the way out for the economic hardship in the land.
“I would like to intimate you that in some of the proposals we have given to the government on another platform, ( He did not mention the platform) that giving Palliatives is not the answer to the high prices of food and other items in the country.
“There is a need for the government to flood and saturate the communities with food, let them (Government) buy food and sell it at lesser prices to the people so that people will try to buy some of these food items depending on their pockets/ income.
“We have passed these recommendations to the government, we hope they will implement it”, he added.
On the planned #EndBadGovernance protest slated for October 1, the Elder statesman appealed to Nigerians to shelve the idea, but nevertheless caution those behind it to be peaceful.
He pointed out that “For God’s sake when you demonstrate, do it peacefully”.
He recalled that in the last demonstration “we saw unnecessary, uncalled for carnage, theft and criminalities” adding that: “ people instead of demonstrating went about looting even private houses, private individuals suffered in the hands of the demonstrators.
He, therefore, cautioned them, saying, “if at all we are going to demonstrate, let us know this is why we are demonstrating let us not inflict hardship on other fellow Nigerians.”
However, General Abdulsalami has a message for the government, “listen to the demonstrators. You cannot beat a child and prevent it from crying.”
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Jabi had said they were in his residence to rejoice with him on the celebration of his birthday and prayed for long life and good health for him.
Jabi solicited the support of the former Nigerian leader for the implementation of some of its programmes especially in the area of mobilization of Nigerians for active participation in governance.
He drew the attention of their host to the prevailing hunger in the land and urged him to help prevail on the Federal Government to solve the problem.
