PREAMABLE
The National Association of Nigerian Students NANS ZONE A is the apex and umbrella body of all students in the North-West and three states from the North East saddled with the responsibility of protecting the rights of the students and championing their yearnings and aspirations
OUR STAND
AS the economic situation drives deep welts into the
flesh of Nigerians, there is a growing air of melancholy
and despair as the Federal Government appears lost for
options to bring succour to the people in the near future.
The economy is biting hardest in the areas that impinge
directly on the people’s material and social wellbeing,
with steep drops in the supply of electricity and
petroleum products, thus threatening the resilience and
ability of Nigerians to survive. Both sectors are
undergoing some of the worst and most prolonged
stretches of scarcity.
For instance, in March 2016, power supply dropped to
unprecedented low levels between 1,580 megawatts and
2,841 megawatts just before the Easter holidays, barely
hours after President Muhammadu Buhari had promised
to add 2,000 more megawatts into the national grid by
the end of this year while aiming to top off to 10,000
megawatts by 2019.
Most parts of the country have endured lack of power
supply in the past three months, and yet the Federal
Government supported plans by the electricity
distribution companies to jerk up prices in spite of poor
services; an action that brought Labour and civil society
groups to the streets in protest about two weeks ago.
Usually, when power supply gets nasty, most citizens
turn to their generating sets for comfort, which means
sinking a large portion of their income on petroleum
products, such as petrol and diesel. The situation was
compounded, however, by the scarcity of petroleum
products, which has also held sway on and off for over
four months.
The fuel scarcity is blamed chiefly on the inability of
independent marketers to raise foreign exchange to
import fuel due to the strict policies of the Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN) to protect the Naira and the nation’s
foreign reserves.
The careless talk of the Minister of State for Petroleum
Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Ibe
Kachikwu, that he did not have a magic wand to restore
full supply within the immediate future, sparked angry
calls for his resignation.
The fact that the Ministries of Petroleum Resources and
Power are manned by President Buhari/Kachikwu and
Babatunde Fashola, who operate at the highest level of
executive function of the Federal Government makes this
bout of petroleum and power scarcity seem beyond the
capacity of the Federal Government to grapple with.
We demand that the Buhari government does something
to alleviate the plight of Nigerians. It must come up with
solutions as soon as possible. This is the time to
translate the “change” that the people voted for negative to positive change.
Nigerians need immediate relief, not apologies or flippant
talk from those in leadership.
In addendum we wish to categorically state and reaffirmed our support and solidarity to the various stands taking by other Zones of the association and we are calling on the National Secretariat to as a matter of urgency start a National campaign on condemnation of the lingering fuel scarcity and the unending problem of epileptic power supply which has in no doubt putting a higher degree of uncertainty in the survival of Academic activities in the entire Nigerian federation.
Much as believe in the use of dialogue as the best option to settle our grievances, the use of the three C's of Aluta notwithstanding as we will not hesitate to mobilize teeming Nigerian students whom are already fed up with the lackadaisical approach of the government to this National issues to converge and pull this government down as Nigerians still reserves the inalienable right to hire and fire public officials.
Aluta Continua, Victoria ascerta.
Comrade. Usman Baba Kankia
Coordinator NANS ZONE A
7th April, 2016
CC;
All stake holders,Senators, JCC Chairmen.
No comments:
Post a Comment