As if in agreement to the saying that the rich also cry, former military head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd), has said said that the economic hardship in Nigeria is getting out of control.
He, is however, expressing concerns on behalf of Nigerians.
Incidentally, a report in ‘The Nation’ said Abubakar and two other past leaders – Ibrahim Babangida and Olusegun Obasanjo – met in Minna two days ago.
According to him, the government needs to do something urgently to save the people.
‘The Sun’ quotes him as saying when the leadership of the Campaign for Democracy and Human Rights led by Abdullahi Mohammed Jabi paid him a birthday visit, yesterday, “The hardship in the land is getting out of control. Everybody is crying about this hardship and it seems to be getting out of control, people cannot afford three square meals, the issue of transportation, the hike in fuel, the hike in school fees for the children and the lack of funds in everybody’s pocket is making life difficult for everybody, Nigerians are suffering.
“We will continue to encourage the government to introduce measures to soften the hardship” adding that ” the federal, states and local governments should see how they can cushion this economic hardship.
“I would like to inform you that in some of the proposals we have given to the government on another platform that giving Palliatives is not the answer to the high prices of food and other items in the country.
“There is a need for the government to flood and saturate the communities with food, let them (Government) buy food and sell it at lesser prices to the people so that people will try to buy some of these food items depending on their pockets/ income.
“We have passed these recommendations to the government, we hope they will implement it.”
