The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) at the weekend, advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, not to hesitate to seek help outside his administration and party, if he is overwhelmed by the current socio-economic quagmire bedeviling Nigeria.
The national student body noted that it seemed that the president and his team are confounded and have no answers to the economic hardship, particularly hunger pummeling Nigerians, positing that the administration should not be ashamed to seek help even from members of the opposition parties in finding solutions.
NANS in a statement signed by the Clerk of the Senate, NANS headquarters, Abdul-Yekinn Odunayo, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said that the situation in the country is becoming more precarious and strangulating the citizens, hence, the need by the President Tinubu-led government to look for urgent solutions wherever they can be found.
Odunayo noted further that all measures being put in place to mitigate the hardship had been swallowed by the high cost of petroleum products, depreciation in the value of naira and astronomical rise in prices of food items.
The statement added that students across the country have seriously been hit by the economic downturn, stressing that urgent solutions must be provided by the incumbent administration to save the country from the socioeconomic precipice.
The NANS Senate Clerk, however, pointed out that Nigerians, especially the students are tired of receiving “insufficient food items” being distributed as palliatives by the Tinubu-led administration, saying only conscientious pragmatic solutions are needed to revamp the country’s economy.
He urged the president not to limit his searches for answers to Nigeria’s challenges to his cabinet members or members of his party, emphasizing that “nothing is stopping Mr. President from consulting the egg heads in the opposition parties for solutions to the harsh and suffocating economic situation in Nigeria”.
“The economic situation is becoming precarious day by day and it seems the president and his team lack the solutions to the economic challenges confronting the nation and pressing down on the people. As a leader and president who wants the country to move forward and surmount the current situation, he should not hesitate or be mortified to seek help our of his government and his party.
“As a national body of students in the country, we believe there are intelligent and economic gurus who are members of the opposition parties the president can consult covertly or woo overtly and tap from their fountain of knowledge.
“To say the truth, Nigerians are hungry and angry. Students are not also impervious to the tempest of hardship blowing across the nation. Therefore, we urge Mr President not to only think out of the box, but consult and woo anyone with a magic box, irrespective of he or she political leaning, in order save the country from economic depression.
“If all hands must be on the deck to move Nigeria forward, President Tinubu must find that capable hands beyond party affiliation and engage them for the benefit, development, growth and economic prosperity of Nigeria and Nigerians”, the statement stated.
Daily Sun