The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has urged the Goodluck
Jonathan Administration to shake off its trademark lethargy and take
governance more seriously in 2013 to ease the hardship which his
government has foisted on Nigerians, especially in the past year
.
In a New Year message issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its National
Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said since the country’s
return to democratic rule in 1999, the year 2012 ranked among the worst
years for Nigerians, even by the very low standard of a non-performing
and profligate administration like President Jonathan’s.
It said having ambushed Nigerians on January 1, 2012 with a totally
unnecessary and punitive fuel price hike, the Jonathan Administration
ensured that everything went downhill from that moment until the end of
the year, when Nigerians had to pay far above the official price for
fuel, with its attendant bandwagon effect on the price of goods and
services.
“Mr President, that singular act of your Administration helped to
erode whatever trust Nigerians reposed in you. Since trust is a critical
element between the government and governed, you must begin to rebuild
trust by delivering on your promises, since trust can neither be decreed
nor forced.
“Suffice it to say that Nigerians cannot and will not trust an
Administration that promises to fight corruption but has presided over
the worst cases of corruption in the history of the country; Nigerians
cannot and will not trust an administration that set up committees after
committees to probe the oil sector, only to shamelessly dump the
reports of the committees in the garbage can!
“And Nigerians cannot and will not trust a spendthrift Administration
that wastes scarce resources on flimsy projects like banquet halls and
mansions for a few government officials, when millions are jobless and
homeless,” the ACN said.
The party advised President Jonathan to drop his amorphous
Transformation Agenda in favour of a compact programme that prioritizes
security, job creation, infrastructural development and the fight
against corruption.
It also advised the Administration to stop relying on phantom
statistics to give Nigerians the impression that it is delivering the
dividends of democracy, when indeed the opposite is the case.
“The Jonathan Administration trumpets economic growth figures with
glee, but of what use is economic growth that has not translated to
better lives for the people, create jobs, put food on the table and make
our roads more motorable?
“Despite this so-called economic growth, the reality of the Nigerian
situation is that more of our youths are daily meandering through
traffic in our major cities selling toothpicks, rat poison and pure
water. What does this so-called economic growth figures mean to them?
“In 2013, the Jonathan Administration must jettison cooked-up
economic growth figures and make a concerted effort to reverse the
situation that has seen an estimated 11 million Nigerian children out of
school, 46 per cent of our youths unemployed, made Nigeria a country
with one of the highest rates of road crashes in the world, put the
country’s life expectancy at a mere 51.9 years (compared with 62.7 for
Gabon, 73.4 for Mauritius and 74 for Libya) and the indignity of
annually seeing the country ranked among the most corrupt,” ACN said.
The party wished all Nigerians a Happy New Year, and prayed that 2013 will bring peace and joy to all.