Jonathan, Okonjo-iweala Ran Nigeria Like A Come-and-chop Restaurant — Shehu Sani

Jonathan, Okonjo-Iweala ran Nigeria like a come-
and-chop restaurant — Shehu Sani
May 9, 2015Abdullahi Garba
The Senator-elect for Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani,
on Saturday tackled President Goodluck Jonathan
on the sale of the Power Holding Company of
Nigeria, PHCN, and the last-minutes sale of the
Nigeria Telecommunications Limited, NITEL.
He also carpeted the Minister of Finance, Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala on her economic policy.
The senator-elect also described the current
impasse in the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, as
a disgrace to Nigerian workers.
Mr. Sani, while receiving the Kaduna state
executive of the National Union of Road Transport
Workers, NURTW, who visited him in his office in
Kaduna, said the privatization exercise under
President Goodluck Jonathan is a monumental
theft of Nigeria’s collective resources in the
interest of a few.
“The sale of PHCN has not translated into
consistent electric power in our homes, in
our offices , in our markets and in our work
place,” he said, adding that the issue of
privatization has also seriously affected
many workers who were employed in
those institutions for decades.
Mr. Sani also stated that, “the last minute-
sale of NITEL to a private firm at a time
when the government is supposed to be
preparing notes for handover is also
suspicious or irrelevant at this time”.
The Senator-elected also accused Mrs
Okonjo-Iweala of damaging Nigeria’s
economy by policies he said failed to
impact positively on the lives of Nigerians.
“They claim progressive economic
statistics on paper while our people
continue to suffer in abject poverty, want
and penury.
“All the economic indicators that have
been churned out by the Jonathan
administration is in direct conflict with the
reality of the situation on ground as far as
Nigeria is concerned.
“Most of our industries have closed down,
the value of our naira has crashed and many
people are out of job and the claim of
thousands of jobs created by the
government is suspect and simply on
paper.This is also an issue we have to look
at in the incoming administration,” he
added.
He described the government of President
Jonathan as “literally a political restaurant
whereby people are invited to come and
feed.That is why President Jonathan is
saying that those who decamped from PDP
to APC will come back with empty
stomach.
“The idea of governance under Jonathan is
about people using the opportunity of being
in office to service themselves and their
immediate families.
“The bickering in the PDP after the failed elections
are simply nothing but pant of death of a party
that has inflicted serious hardship on Nigerians in
the last 16 years.”
On the NLC crisis, Mr Sani said the crisis in the
labour union is a disgrace to workers, to Nigerian
people and to the country at large.
He said it is unfortunate that after decades of
viable labour movement in Nigeria, the country
now has a labour that is divided against itself.
“NLC as it exists at this time cannot fight the
interest of Nigerian workers as long as it remains
divided,” Mr. Sani said.
He called on the incoming government of
Muhammadu Buhari to reconcile the factions
within the NLC for the collective interest of Nigeria
and the Nigerian workers because according to
him, “a house divided against itself cannot stand”.
He also told his visitors that as a very important
sector of the economy, they have a role to play in
mobilizing and sensitizing people for the success
of the incoming administration.
Mr. Sani advocated a bill to protect the local
automobile industry so that Nigerians would
better patronize made-in-Nigeria cars, saying that
would provide jobs and boost Nigeria’s
economy.
The state chairman of the NURTW, Alhassan
Haruna, appealed to government to come to the
aid of his Union’s over 60,000 members by
assisting them to improve on their transport
business.