ACN laments state of nation, scores Jonathan low


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THE Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said Nigerians need no ‘marking scheme’ to assess the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration or any administration at all, noting that the people know when a government has impacted positively on their lives.

In a statement issued in Ibadan Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also reminded Jonathan that it is not the business of the opposition to spoon-feed his administration on how to govern, even though the party has, time and again, gone out of its way to proffer solutions to the myriad of problems facing the nation, out of sheer patriotism.

‘’Needless to say that such suggestions from us and other well-meaning groups and individuals have been so arrogantly ignored by the administration,’’ it said.

ACN wondered why Jonathan allegedly became irritated that Nigerians have not given his administration a pass mark, after about three years in the saddle and two years since he was elected.

‘’Mr. President, Nigerians need no marking scheme to know that the rate of unemployment went up, under your watch, to an unprecedented 23.9 per cent by December 2011, according to figures given by the National Bureau of Statistics. Today, the figure must be hovering above the 50 per cent mark!

‘’Nigerians need no marking scheme to know that under your watch, security of lives and property, as well as the welfare of the citizens - the raison d’etre of any government - are at the lowest ebb. A day before you demanded a marking scheme from Nigerians instead of giving them better life, a popular musician was attacked by a nine-man gang that snatched his car and deprived him of his money in the country’s economic capital city - the fate being suffered daily by millions of your compatriots!”

According to ACN, what marking scheme does one need to know that despite the seemingly impressive economic figures being reeled out by the government, the average Nigerian is worse off today than he or she was before Jonathan became president. What we are seeing is growth without development. ‘The so-called 6.5 per cent economic growth announced by your Finance minister is meaningful only on paper. How does that help the thousands of university graduates who are scrambling to work as truck drivers? How does it make Lagos-Ibadan expressway or the East-West road safer for Nigerians?”

The party urged Jonathan to explain the impact for Nigerians of the high foreign reserves figure and the stable exchange rates for the naira reeled out by the Finance Minister. ‘’And in case Mr. President thinks it is only the opposition and the media - his administration’s favourite whipping boys – that are scoring his administration low, what about the Washington-based global advocacy and campaigning organisation, ONE, which listed Nigeria - under President Jonathan’s watch - and DR Congo among ‘laggard countries’ pulling Africa back from reaching the MDG goals by 2015? ‘’ACN queried

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