Prominent traditional ruler, the Obi of Onitsha, His Majesty Nnaemeka
Alfred Achebe (Agbogidi), has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari
to immediately take the needed steps to end the current recession in
the country.
The monarch, who did not leave Buhari on what he thinks are possible
options, asked the Nigerian leader “to seek, listen and accept views
from experienced Nigerians on the state of the economy” and take
decisive actions on them.
Igwe Achebe said that there are competent Nigerians, whose wealth of
experience the President can tap to diversify and make the nation to be
self-reliant.
In his address to mark the 15th Ofala Festival in Onitsha at the
weekend, Igwe Achebe said that the economy urgently needs a major
overhaul and redirection from the cumulative decisions and actions of
past administrations.
The monarch said the Federal Government should pre-occupy itself with
how to transform the economy from being consumption and import-driven
to becoming production-oriented.
He said: “There is no doubt that the nation’s economy urgently needs a
major overhaul and redirection from the cumulative decisions and
actions of past regimes. It needs to be transformed from being
consumption and import-driven to becoming production-oriented,
self-reliant and diversified.”
Igwe Achebe further asked Buhari to look beyond the party affiliation
for solutions to the economic crisis to save it from total collapse.
According to him, “our country Nigeria has faced grave challenges over
the past years. President Muhammadu Buhari was popularly elected on the
mantra of change. His political party, the All Progressives Congress
(APC) created high expectations during electioneering campaign.
“But unfortunately, Nigerians have witnessed a steady decline in most
of economic and human developments, and a major recession, which has
prompted several statesmen and opinion leaders, including the Emir of
Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),
Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, renowned Catholic Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah,
as well as Anthony Cardinal Okojie to draw public attention to the
suffering of the ordinary citizens,” he said.
The notable Igbo monarch lamented that most state governments have
been unable to pay their workers’ salaries without the “so-called
bailout funds, which is a euphemism for loans to be repaid by the future
generations”, noting happily that Anambra State is among the few
states of the federation, which has continued to meet their obligations
of regularly paying their workers.
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