Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum, Aminu Tambuwal, has said Nigeria is suffering from a crisis of governance, hence the myriad of challenges confronting it.
He noted that the challenges are man made and could be addressed only through visionary leadership, which the PDP poised to deliver, if it wins the 2023 polls.
Tambuwal, who stated this at a retreat for newly elected members national officers of the PDP, yesterday, in Abuja, said it was obvious that the country cannot survive another four years of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration
The governor of Sokoto State said the country must be restructured to guarantee its survival.
“We suffer from a crisis of governance. The unity of Nigeria is facing unprecedented challenges. Life in Nigeria is increasingly becoming brutish and short as insecurity ravages the land. Poverty is the forte of the ordinary Nigerian.
“The health and education of our people has not improved. Our people are in want. The economy is in dire straits with the exchange rate now about N540 to a dollar from the N150 to a dollar when PDP left office. Prices of food stuff and essential commodities are unsustainable. Clearly beyond the reach of the average Nigerian.
“Between 35 to 40 per cent of Nigerians are unemployed. And women and Youths bear the main brunt. Bandits, kidnappers, terrorists are having a field day. Almost unchallenged. Our children are not safe even in their schools. Corruption still stalk the land. Nepotism, ethnic and religious bigotry reign supreme in today’s APC’s Nigeria. Our infrastructure is still comatose.”
The governor argued that restructuring the polity would unleash the energies of the people towards addressing national challenges.
“Nigeria must embrace restructuring to survive. It must restructure its polity, economy, security and ways of doing things. It must embrace relative autonomy and decentralisation of power. This will unleash the energies of our people, especially, the young. It is time to allow Nigeria blossom. It is doable with all hands on deck.”
The PDP national chairman-elect, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, in his remarks at the event, said the retreat with the theme” It is time to Rescue and Rebuild Nigeria”, was necessary to prepare new leaders of the party for the challenges ahead, prior to their assumption of office, noting that for the party to reclaim power, it must demonstrate to Nigerians that it could run a better government.
He said that Nigerians would not vote for the party simply because it had done it before, but must demonstrate that it could do it better than the ruling All Progressives Party, (APC).
He said that no other party in Nigeria was better equipped and placed to rescue and rebuild the country than the PDP, adding that the party did it before.
He recalled how PDP took over power from military rule in Nigeria and within short years under former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration reversed the collapsed economic.
Ayu said that the administration also stabilised the exchange and interest rates, made strides in the provision of infrastructure, secured relief from foreign creditors and restored faith in Nigeria both by its citizens and foreign investors.
“Many of our citizens in the diaspora returned and set up businesses here or contributed in other ways.
“Foreign investors trooped in. Abuja and other cities transformed from sites of abandoned projects to thriving construction sites and livable cities.
“Do we remember what our telephone system was like before the PDP government gave us GSM?”
He said that while PDP could do that again, it had to do the first things first.
“Nigerians are not going to vote for us just because we had done well before. People do not vote for the past but for the present and the future.
“We have to demonstrate that we can do better than the current APC government. But we must start with putting our own house in order.
“We are a big tent, indeed a big umbrella. Yes, within the party we have different tendencies, worldviews and experiences. But our overriding interest should be Nigeria. To bring it back from the brink. To make it better. To present Nigeria to the world again as a country of serious, competent and committed people. When we rebuild it we will all benefit,” Ayu said.
He said that the party had to rebuild Nigeria to provide education for all its citizens, secures its borders and protects its law-abiding citizens wherever they may live, whatever their occupation and whatever their language, religion or ethnicity.