The Director-General of Voice of Nigeria, Mr. Osita Okechukwu has blamed the present security challenges facing Nigeria on the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), an IMF policy under the army leadership of then Head of State, Ibrahim Babandiga
It was reviewed that Nigeria has currently been hit with the insecurity of a high magnitude, a situation that has now worsened with the infinite abduction of school children within the Northern part of the nation.
He additionally didn’t spare power distribution companies, lamenting that rather than improve on electricity, they have been busy siphoning billions of funds.
While absolving his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), of blames, Okechukwu cautioned that “instead of the blame game, we should come to the reality that the insecurity problem we face today is the result of Extreme-Poverty planted in 1986 by the IMF Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). He said that SAP sowed the inhuman seed which gave birth to insecurity and calls for introspection and deep reflection on how we became the World Poverty Capital and how best to exit fast.
“Yes, we of the APC pledged to repair security in our dear nation in each particular matter. That’s our pledge, and to be honest, we’re deploying billions of Naira and every material and human resources to contain it.
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“However, we’re confronted with Extreme-Poverty planted in 1986 by the IMF Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). The day SAP was born was the day the gross economic inequality and insecurity in Nigeria was born. It has badly mutated since 1986.”
“Economic inequality breeds extreme-poverty, hate, division and hostile insecurity, in countries wherever it’s allowed to thrive throughout history. To be exact no matter how much trillions of Naira we spend on army hardware, or how many times we change Security Chiefs, with Extreme-Poverty security will remain a mirage.
“Whereas I’m neither canvassing for marxism nor socialism, we must accept that ours is a primitive economy which requires a primary solution.”
He noted that “the primary solution is to return to Mixed Economy model; clearly stated in Section sixteen(2)(c) of 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria inter alia, “that the Economic System isn’t operated in such a manner as to permit the focus of Wealth and Means of Production and Exchange within the hands of few people or of a group.” Okechukwu posited.
“We violently breached the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy of our Constitution. Regrettably, every day we widen economic inequality because government-owned enterprises we privatised as Electricity failed. The Electricity Distribution Firms we privatised rather than enhance electricity distribution still siphon billions from the government treasury. The glaring result’s the paradox of a nebulous economic system which produced the richest African and produced World Poverty Capital.”
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“Truly, Nigeria’s security problem is that we run an artificial economic model, where there is an ocean of poor people and an island of rich people. The opaque system created banks which make billions of profit annually and operate poverty induced Shylock Interest Rates.” Okechukwu lamented.
“Therefore, fairly than blame the game we should return to a mix-economy model, dish out the nebulous economic policy that the government has no business in the business.
“Government has business in business, as a result of we the people are the business in a primitive economy like ours. As long as we live under the illusion of a developing nation, so long our inequality widens, so long our poverty widens and insecurity widens.” Okechukwu quipped.
“Indeed unless we curb Excessive-Poverty within the land, insecurity will remain an existential problem. Excessive-Poverty is the obstacle we inherited when in 1986 we embarked on the IMF Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP).”
