MURIC, groups want government to make citizens’ wellbeing priority

The New Nigeria Nationalists (NNN), a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) has urged the three tiers of government to place premium on the well-being of every Nigerian by providing them the basic necessities of life that will make them happy.
The Director of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Prof. Ishaq Akintola; NNNs National Coordinator, Mrs Foluso Makanjuola-Oyenuga and other stakeholders said this at a news conference on the state of the nation held at Bola Memorial Anglican Church Hall, Ikeja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the objective of NNN is to advocate good governance.
Makanjuola -Oyenuga in her address said that the state of the country had become more worrisome to an average Nigerian, and urged the government to place priority on providing the basic necessities of life to its citizens to reverse the trend.
“Nobody that is averagely reasonable can be happy in an environment of pervasive pain and penury that has been the lots of Nigerians for a very long time now. This is a scenario that the leadership of this country has to pay attention to.”
She said that after Nigeria gained independence from the British government in 1960, the country should not have remained a poor one owing to the natural and human resources God had endowed her with.
She said that Nigerians were usually reminded of what they had lost in terms of development and growth since then due to base leadership.
She said that the country should suspend the annual celebration of its independence until the government could provide basic amenities of life.
Makanjuola-Oyenuga said that the middle class had gradually been going into extinction and expanding the percentage of the masses because of months of unpaid salaries to several workers and unemployment.
“Celebration will start when the resources of the country are adequately and effectively deployed to provide meaningful living for every Nigerian without any form of discrimination.
“We shall celebrate when food is made available to all of us after appropriately harnessing the abundant agricultural potentials of the country.
“For us, celebration will start when there are good medical services for all the citizens. Celebration should only start when every child and adult is rescued from the shameful grip of illiteracy.
“There shall be celebration when the economy is redesigned to comfortably serve and sustain every individual that cares to take positive and productive advantage of it,’’ she said.
Also, Mr Paul Erinne, a member, Board of Trustees (BoT)of NNN, said that corruption had made it impossible for public office holders to deliver on their electoral promise of providing basic amenities for citizens.
“It is noted that the deprivation of the populace of basic things of life: education, health, nutrition, is arguably the worst crime against humanity because people die in hundreds of thousands as a result,’’ he said.
Erinne who commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s war against corruption, urged every Nigerian to support the administration’s efforts.
“We cannot fail to mention that it is not all gloom as we have a leader who has been able to put the brakes on the slide into corruption by the implementation of the Treasury Single Account, which has reduced corruption and impunity in the public service.
“President Buhari’s administration has indeed tried giving bailout funds to various state governments, but despite the funds, we still hear of workers being owed for several months.
“This is unacceptable; the fight against corruption is the focal point of President Buhari’s administration which we applaud.”
He, however, said that it was not achieving the expected results because the President had been the only one wagging the war against corruption.
Also, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, the director of MURIC in a keynote address, said that Nigerians should vote for people with integrity, honesty, achievers rather than using religious sentiments as their benchmark.
Akintola also said that such Nigerians would promote the unity and progress of the country when elected into public offices,
He advised Nigerians to always cultivate the spirit of forgiveness for peace, justice, live and development to reign in the country.
Also, Mr Solomon Adegbolagun, also a BoT member, advised youths to form formidable teams in their political wards, and contest elections and contribute to the development of new Nigeria.