The All Progressives Congress has dismissed claims by the Peoples Democratic Party and other commentators that Nigeria was tilting towards becoming a failed state.
The party noted that despite claims by naysayers and partisan doomsday predictions, Nigeria was nowhere near a failed state.
This was contained in a statement titled, “Nigeria Nowhere Close to a Failed State – APC,” signed by the Secretary of the Caretaker/ Extra-Ordinary National Planning Committee, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, in Abuja, on Sunday.
Akpanudoedehe said, “The President Muhammadu Buhari government is not oblivious to the country’s challenges and is visibly and frontally addressing them.
“From the economy to security, it is easy, to sum up Nigeria with some recently recorded security incidents and the economic downturn. However, this government has displayed the political will and capacity to contain any criminal/terrorist activity and return the economy to growth.
“President Buhari’s administration which sees the urgent need to have a better policing system for the country and is embarking on sweeping police reforms and supporting community policing is definitely not governing a country close to becoming a failed state.
“Amid the COVID-19 induced economic slowdown, President Buhari’s administration which is stimulating the economy by preventing business collapse; supporting labor-intensive sectors such as agriculture; creating jobs through infrastructural investments in roads, rails, bridges; promoting manufacturing and local production at all levels to attain self-sufficiency in critical sectors of the economy, is definitely not governing a country close to becoming a failed state.”
The party scribe noted that President Buhari’s regime, which he said, was implementing one of the world’s largest and far-reaching social investment programmes targeting the very poor and other vulnerable groups, including women and persons living with disabilities through pro-poor spending, is definitely not governing a country close to becoming a failed state.
The party secretary enjoined Nigerians to recall, “the ignoble pastime of past administrations which would rather bury its head in sand and spin conspiracies in the face of insecurity and engage in voodoo economics to hoodwink Nigerians while national resources were stolen and diverted to political cronies. Those days are gone.”
The statement added, “While the PDP and their hirelings engage in their unfortunate and apparently orchestrated attacks on the Armed Forces and other security services, the APC will rather support their efforts and charge them to do more to further degrade the capacity of terrorists and other criminal elements to attack soft targets.”
Credit: Punch