The Foundation for Environment Rights Advocacy and Development, FENRAD, has condemned President Muhammadu Buhari-led government over the security challenges in the country.
The group in a statement released throught its Executive Director, Nelson Nnanna Nwafor lamented that Boko Haram had captured over 50 local communities in Niger State.
According to the group, “While all this happened, the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) after mobilising for aerial attacks on the locations of the terrorists could not show discipline and coordination required to deal with the anti-terror campaign as the recent operation killed over twenty personnel within the Nigerian military.”
FENRAD further stated that nothing has been said regarding the missing military Alpha War Jet and insisted that Nigeria air force owes the citizens explanation as to convince Nigerians if it is capable of winning this war with the budget in place since 2019.
The rights group said Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government is failing in its onerous responsibility under international law and obligation to protect citizens and aliens within her territory.
FENRAD’s release partly stated, “Kidnapping of school children – as heretofore seen with Dapchi and Chibok and elsewhere – has graduated yet to another obscene height with university students now victims. Greenfield University and Federal College of Mechanisation Afaka both in Kaduna State are latest cases in point. Till date, some of the victims have been killed with the abductors demanding millions in ransom for those still alive in captivity. Worst is that even the so-called Safe School Initiative seems to have been jettisoned long ago as the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, alerted the nation that government cannot protect schools within the federation!
“Away from insecurity, the economy which is itself another administrative pillar of the federal government prior to 2015 has contracted. Unemployment stands at 33%, inflation at 18.7% with Nigeria being declared the world poverty capital, the most miserable sub-Saharan nation and recently the third worst governed state! Crass and reckless consumption has continued even among officials within a government elected on the grounds of fighting and winning the war against corruption.
“Worse still, the growing number of out-of-school children (which some sources say stands at 14 million) all pose potential security threats to the nation and her future. Debt profile both domestic and international nears outrageous threshold the government of the day cannot defray or even service alone and yet Nigeria is seeking to borrow some more when it has the capacity to generate revenue from within and shore up the dwindling reserve.”
“A recent release from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC showed that cash crunch will soon hit Nigeria’s revenue for the months of April and May as the Corporation stated clearly that it will not, due to subsidy payments, meet her obligation of remitting into the Federal Account Allocation Committee, FAAC for the two months under mention.”
“Though a recent release from the same Corporation seems to dismiss this, it may not be far from mere window dressing. One cannot process all this alone, any wonder the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, who is also a member of the FAAC and National Economic Council advanced that for the FAAC disbursement of March 2021, the CBN printed 50 to 60 billion naira, which in our analysis could plunge the nation deeper into the murky waters of hyperinflation!”
“Subsidy? This is where the Buhari-led federal government failed Nigerians woefully. The president who is the Commander-in-chief doubles also as the executive minister of petroleum to boot. From claiming initially there was no subsidy or that the regime has been changed to under recovery payment, the government now through minister of state for petroleum, Silva, says the subsidy is being removed. It was for this reason the federal government introduced the under recovery payment scheme where NNPC alone performs the function of marketing the product through its subsidiary company, Petroleum Product Marketing Company, PPMC, yet fuel remains scarce even at the FCT and Lagos.
“The government still pays huge amount in the name of subsidy given that maritime and coastal costs for petroleum products differ upon landing. Landing costs which include charges on jetty throughput, NPA charge, lightering cost, NIMASA charge and other logistics usually taken care of by the federal government make up the subsidy payment. That even after introduction of under recovery payment Nigeria still finds it hard to address subsidy is a huge failure for the president and his petroleum industry subsector of the economy.”