The New Nigeria Peoples Party has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to seek the help of former President Goodluck Jonathan on the economic crisis in the country.
The call came barely three days after the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Organised Private Sector called for the reversal of the new price regime.
The retail stations of NNPC raised the price of petrol to N1,030 from N897/litre in Abuja, and from N868/litre to N998/litre in Lagos. Other locations witnessed similar price hikes, a development that triggered anger among Nigerians.
The price hike, the second in one month, represents about 14.8 per cent or N133 rise.
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, the National Secretary of the NNPP, Dipo Olaoyoku, told our correspondent that it was obvious the current administration did not have enough ideas on how to take Nigeria out of the woods.
He said, “As far as Nigeria is concerned, nothing shocks us anymore. This present government has no iota of solution to the problem of this country. When there is a crisis in the country, and you have a government that only looks for the easy way out, it means that Nigeria is on a long journey.
“How can a president announce the removal of subsidy on his first day on the job without ascertaining the extent of the subsidy and the people receiving it? Within the same week, you announced the floating of the naira. At that time, Nigeria was solely dependent on imported fuel, with the prices being determined by the naira.
“This government is bereft of ideas. Unfortunately, if you look at the people he has appointed into offices, you cannot identify a competent one among them. I just pity Nigerians. After surviving the hurricane of Buhari, see what Nigeria has been reduced to. It is catastrophic. This government has no compassion for any Nigerian.”
Continuing, the NNPP scribe decried that rather than recruit technocrats from different walks of life, the President surrounded his friends with his political friends and associates.
Olaoyoku, however, suggested that unless Tinubu sought the help of experienced political administrators like Jonathan, whose experience in governance would count, the masses would continue to wallow under the yoke of hardship.
“Again, they can beg Dr Goodluck Jonathan for help on how he was able to retain the rate of the naira to the dollar at N200 before the APC came on board. Let them go and beg him” he added.
But the ruling All Progressives Congress kicked, describing the NNPP secretary as an armchair analyst who was probably speaking from the point of ignorance.
Reacting via a phone interview, the National Publicity Director of the APC, Bala Ibrahim, disclosed that the opposition party could do well by urging its only governor in Kano to consider raising the topic at the next National Council of State meeting, where Jonathan would also be in attendance.
He stated, “If the NNPP had a solution to the problem, it would have been in power. They don’t have the foresight. Even Nigerians know and don’t have the confidence that they have the foresight to address the economic challenges of the country. The NNPP is speaking from the comfort of the opposition and out of the misunderstanding of the challenges facing Nigeria.
“The NNPP we are talking about has only one state in the federation, which is Kano, and its governor is a member of the National Council of State, just like former President Goodluck Jonathan. The council is known to discuss the problems of the state periodically.
“So if the NNPP is speaking out of sincerity and patriotism, let the Kano governor advance this suggestion at the Council of State where Jonathan is seated so the problem can be addressed there in the interest of the nation. He shouldn’t be speaking from the comfort of a tea party and just be giving suggestions that are not in tandem with common sense.”
