By Abuja Reporter
Action Democratic Party (ADP) has urged the Federal Government to tackle poverty and hunger in the country by addressing financial corruption and other sources of government funds leakages for the benefit of the masses.
Mr Yabaji Sani, ADP National Chairman, said this in Abuja at the party’s Pre-Convention news conference that the government needed to prioritise its citizens by addressing the core issues directly affecting the common man.
He said that the issues included untold hardship, poverty, and hunger.
“We are celebrating 25 years of unbroken democracy, but the common man is wallowing in hunger and extreme poverty.
“Nigerians expected better government now than what it had before, but unfortunately that is not the case here as the common man is barely surviving.
“ADP believed in President Bola Tinubu because of his experience; because of his track records; and because he told us that he had the capacity to lead.
“But ADP is coming out with a verdict that this government has not demonstrated the capacity to lead this country with all the resources available to it.
“Nigerians by now should not be battling with the kind of poverty and hardship it is battling with after one year and so we are asking Tinubu-led government to step up to the task,” he said.
Sani said that the government knew the sources of the problems in the country but was yet to show the political will to address them.
He said that with the experience and democratic prowess of the president, garnering political will to address especially financial crimes should be an achievable task.
He, however, said that the president was yet to show Nigerians that he was leading a people-centric government where the welfare of the people was paramount.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is the core revenue generating sector and the president identified it as one of the major reasons for the removal of subsidy.
“So why is the president not probing it as a major stakeholder in the subsidy fund mal-administration? Why is nothing being done to it to recover funds?
“Since the oil sector sustains the country, it is expected that it is protected from leakages but we do not see that happening, and that is why the people are suffering and wallowing in poverty.
“The president has not shown us that he cares for the people and that is why we are where we are today,” he said.
He urged the government to probe the NNPC as it was probing the Central Bank of Nigeria and to address other cases of financial corruption.
He said that the ADP was working towards its national convention, adding that the party remained fit to take up leadership in the future and deliver on its mandates.
