Nigeria Risks Dire Consequences Over Socio-Economic Strains – CSO

A civil society organisation, Nigerian Working Group On Peace Building And Conflict Prevention, has warned that if the socio-economic strains in the country are not resolved, there may be a popular uprising.
The group lamented that the economic and social crises rocking the country were pushing citizens to the edge, saying Prsident Bola Tinubu must recognise that many Nigerians are in pain.
National Coordinator of the group, Adewale Adeoye; South-West Coordinator, Taiwo Adeleye; South-South Coordinator, Werinipre Digifa; Middle-Belt Coordinator, Abuka Omobaba; North West Coordinator, Kudu Abubakar; South East Coordinator, Fred Onijika; and North East Coordinator, Lawan Idris, said this in a statement made available to The Tide source.
The coordinators stated that the group toured the six geo-political zones to engage social and cultural organizations to stem what it termed prospective ethnic and religious violence that could put the country in a worse situation.
They stated: “Nigeria faces three major problems at the moment: the national question which makes the definition of national interest absent; spineless corruption in low and high places and the complete break-down of trust in public and private life of the citizenry. These three underlined challenges are responsible for insecurity, violent ethnic clashes and armed rebellion in some parts of the country.
“Nigeria faces the crisis of ethnic identity in the context of the primitive scramble for resources, the distribution and ownership of national and indigenous wealth.
“In this vortex lay the intra-ethnic struggle for control by the majority ethnic groups and the cries and agony of ethnic minorities who feel trampled by the political, economic and social structure that exclude them. While individual ethnic minorities are given appointments, it does not automatically resolve the contradictions occasioned by the historic injustice they have experienced for decades which mere creation of states by fiat has not been able to resolve. Nigeria needs to address the fears and aspirations of ethnic nationalities in Nigeria through a new, people driven constitution where ethnic minorities are also real stakeholders and not mere end users of finished products, of laws, made without their genuine representatives.
“Tackling corruption involves removing institutional obstacles that sustain graft like the bogus salaries of politically exposed persons, extravagance of the owners of private banks and financial institutions that perform.