The former military head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, yesterday, took a critical look at the living conditions of most Nigerians and concluded that “the hardship in the land is getting out of control.” Abdulsalami spoke in Minna, the Niger State capital when he received the leadership of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), led by Abdullahi Mohammed Jabi, who paid him a birthday visit.
The CD delegation had asked him to prevail on President Bola Tinubu to find a solution to the hunger in the land. The former head of state lamented, “Everybody is crying because 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 prices, the hike in school fees for children and the lack of funds in everybody’s pocket is making life difficult for everybody. We will continue to encourage the government to introduce measures to soften the hardship. The federal, state and local governments should see how they can cushion this economic hardship”.
The former ruler said he belonged to a forum that had made recommendations to the FG on the way out of the economic hardship in the land. He stated, “I would like to inform you that in some of the proposals we have given to the government on another platform, 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 (the government) buy food and sell 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.”
