Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to shun politics and address the current hardship and hunger in the country.
According to the CSOs, the president's threat to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other voices speaking out over what is happening in the country will not solve any problem.
To this end, the CSOs have called on President Tinubu not to play politics with the country's present situation but to move quickly to address the problems on ground.
The CSOs' stance is sequel to the president's expression of anger following a nationwide strike called by Labour on Tuesday, accusing the workers' union playing politics about the cry of hunger.
However, some Nigerians are reported to have looted food in Minna in Niger State, Zaria in Kaduna State and Abuja.
Abuja residents broke into the Humanitarian Ministry's warehouse and looted grains and other food items.
But the CSOs said that it is important for the president to view what the NLC and other groups are doing as a wake-up call rather than waiting for the issue to get out of hand.
The CSOs that spoke to LEADERSHIP include Transparency International (TI), the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG).
Speaking through their leader, Awwal Musa Rafsanjani, the CSOs said that NLC and other voices should not be silenced, adding that even though the present president is not entirely to blame for the hardship, he should act fast to turn things around before it gets out of hand.
"It is important that our government becomes responsible and responsive. President Tinubu knows that Nigerians are suffering. What we expect is for the government to address the issues being raised by the CSOs and the NLC.
"The NLC and CSOs are not antagonising President Tinubu but they are presenting the voices of the voiceless Nigerians.
"NLC, CSOs are helping in presenting Nigerians' issues so that the government can address it because without the government doing anything, things will get out of hand," Rafsanjani said, adding that the government should see the NLC and the CSOs not as enemies but as groups that want a better Nigeria.
"The NLC and the CSOs are just telling the government about the hardship and the hunger Nigerians are facing so that the Nigerian government can solve the issues.
"It should not be about threats. Government should be happy with NLC and CSOs because these groups don't want the issues to get out of hand," Rafsanjani said while reminding the Tinubu administration to stop reckless spending and corruption.
"Government should be happy that NLC and CSO are the ones helping in presenting issues that are affecting Nigerians. But if the president resorts to bullying and attacking the NLC. Renting voices to suppress CSOs and labour, the country will not go anywhere.
"Let Tinubu address the challenges and listen to CSOs and the NLC and not play politics with what is happening. We know that he is not the one that created the problem. But he is a leader who must stop politics and address the issues.
"President Tinubu should see reason with NLC and CSOs and address the hunger and suffering Nigerians are facing," Rafsanjani added.
Residents Loot Warehouse In Abuja
As the economic hardship bites harder, some hoodlums in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday looted FCTA Agric Warehouse located at Tarsha community in the Gwagwa-Karmo axis of the territory.
The hoodlums invaded the warehouse and made away with food items in sacks and anything they could lay their hands on, including doors and windows, after vandalizing the storehouse.
A resident of the community who preferred anonymity said that the hoodlums decided to loot the storehouse in the community because the hunger in the land is too much for them to bear.
"Imagine you are hungry and there is a means for you to get something to eat, and you see a warehouse close to you where food items are stashed inside, what will you do?
"The people decided to enter the warehouse and carry whatever they see because the hunger they are experiencing is too much. You cannot have food items locked in a warehouse when people are almost dying of hunger," he said.
Confirming the incident, spokesperson of the FCTA Agric Department, Zakari Aliyu, admitted that it was the FCTA Agric warehouse that was looted by hoodlums.
"We have visited the area with our mandate secretary. He will repeat the visit with the minister of state tomorrow," he said.
Police Arrest 15 Over Abuja Warehouse Looting
Following the looting of an Abuja warehouse, the Nigeria Police Force said it had arrested 15 persons in connection with the action.
The spokesperson of the FCT police command, SP Josephine Adeh said, in a statement last night, that "the FCT police command is fully informed about the impulsive attack on Agric Department Strategic food store located at Tasha, Abuja, yesterday by some irate mob which resulted in the vandalisation and looting of the warehouse.
"The command wishes to state that normalcy has since been restored to the environment and the situation is very much under control. 15 suspects were arrested, including two local security guards employed by the warehouse management.
"Exhibits such as 26 bags of maize, five motorcycles and some vandalised aluminum roofing were recovered from the suspects."
Hunger, cumulative effect of the past - Umahi
Meanwhile, the minister for works, David Umahi yesterday attributed the economic hardship and hunger presently witnessed in the country to the cumulative effect of the past administrations.
In an interaction with journalists in his Uburu Country home, Umahi said that the hardship and hunger is a build-up from the insecurity witnessed across the country and said that the present administration of President Bola Tinubu is fighting the insecurity posed to farmers, including clashes with herdsmen.
"The present hunger that everybody is talking about didn't start today. It's a build-up to a number of factors. Before the past administration and present administration, we have been having a build-up of insecurity; we had farmers/herders' clashes over a number of years, for a long period of time.
"At a time, I was the chairman of the NEC Committee on Resolving Farmers/Herders' Clashes. So, I went through a number of states, especially the northern states settling the farmers/herders' clashes and it yielded a number of fruits.
"That problem dealt a lot of blows to food production. The issue of kidnapping, the issue of insecurity prevented farmers from going to their farms because here, we are talking about hunger."
He maintained that it is impossible for the present administration to solve the problem of insecurity within a space of nine months and called on Nigerians to be patient with the present government.
"You don't expect the administration of President Tinubu to fix all those things within nine months, it's not possible. So, it's a cumulative effect of the past, like I have mentioned.
"We should be asking ourselves: how do we solve these problems and that's what the President has started doing. When something has gotten to climax, you don't expect to solve it overnight.
"If you check very well, especially in the South East, you will know that we no longer have incessant farmers/herders' clashes. So, why should we join the protest when the president has solved our major problem?
"The problem now we have in the South East is self-inflicted and that is the issue of unknown but known gunmen. So, if we are protesting, what are we protesting against?
"The South East can't protest against a president that has solved herders/farmers clashes. If you remove the issue of unknown gunmen, the South East will be completely safe and farmers can work. So, we can't go and join anybody to protest."
Customs Probes Stampede At Rice Distribution Centre
In a related development, the management of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has set up a panel to examine circumstances surrounding the stampede and the casualties reported at its former zonal office in Yaba, Lagos.
The comptroller-general of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, directed the panel headed by a management member to identify the victims of the stampede and work out modalities for providing support and succour for their immediate families.
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In the same vein, the NCS has suspended the exercise, in order to commiserate with the families of the deceased while officials have returned to the drawing board to fine-tune strategies for resuming the exercise.
Furthermore, the national public relations officer, Abdullahi Maiwada, in a statement yesterday in Abuja, said the NCS would thoroughly investigate the stampede and tidy up loose ends.
"This is a deliberate management decision to enable us to produce a more robust and comprehensive action that will not defeat the original intention of supporting Nigerians. We commiserate with the families that lost their loved ones as we appreciate the understanding and cooperation of all Nigerians.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the affected families during this challenging time, and we assure them of our unwavering support. We are working with families and caregivers to establish contact and engage directly with the victims' families. Following this incident, an internal investigation has commenced to understand the circumstances surrounding this unfortunate event," he said.
On February 23, the NCS, in a bid to support indigent Nigerians and minimise the hardships trailing the rising cost of food in the country, had opened its warehouse in Lagos to auction seized food items at affordable prices to ameliorate the suffering of vulnerable Nigerians.
Targeting the poor, a 25kg of rice was sold at N10,000, and to prevent fraud and resale, beneficiaries were required to provide their National Identity Numbers.
Reports indicated that the distribution exercise commenced about 8am as beneficiaries lined up in an orderly manner. Logistic support was provided by security agencies, specifically the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Police, Directorate of State Services and Lagos State Traffic Management Authority
However, the exercise, which was meant to continue in other parts of the country, ran into a hitch as a stampede broke out at the distribution scene, leading to the death of seven persons in Lagos.
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