PRESS RELEASE
STATE OF THE NATION
1. Economy
a). Concern about our Nigeria national Currency
Gentlemen of the Press, when you came here last year, the first national challenge we highlighted was the disheartening state of our currency. That it has further taken the worst form would be an understatement, and the effects of this real sting have not been lost on the ordinary man in the society. In fact, the cost of household items and other essentials have gone overboard with some as much as 500%.
Last year we lamented that the Dollar to Naira exchange rate was bad. About six years ago, a dollar exchanged for N160, but today, it is over N800 to a dollar. This is quite sad because of its attendant effects on our national socio-economic engineering.
Some schools of thought believe that the dollar is being hoarded by some unscrupulous elements in our nation, but this wouldn’t have had much impacts on the society, if our economy is being managed rightly and the nation is regularly repositioned to be more of a manufacturing nation rather than a consuming nation.
Experts fear that unless Nigeria increases its foreign reserves, reduces its appetite for foreign loans, and boosts local production to depend less on the importation of goods including refined petroleum products, the Naira will continue its downward slide.
We believe that Government must make concerted and well thought-out efforts to improve its fiscal policies to shore up the Naira and check its consistent downward slide. We certainly need better measures than our mere perennial cosmetic approaches.
The current exchange rate and the scarcity of foreign exchange for manufacturers to purchase their raw materials and machines are certainly having adverse effects on the economy.
Furthermore, the costs of essential items such as food items, drugs, raw materials for industries, spare parts, automobiles, etc, have continued to trigger inflation leading to the lowering of purchasing powers of millions of Nigerians. The Government at this period must take the necessary step to save the economy and Nigerians from the pangs of hunger.
b). Inflation
Nigeria’s economy is presently struggling under the weight of double-digit inflation, oil theft, an import-driven economy, a soaring exchange rate, a rising debt profile, and fraudulent tax exemptions and concessions among others. And, there is no doubt that the increase in prices of goods and services due to the high inflation rate has further pushed the Nigerian masses into abject poverty.
There is no gainsaying that more Nigerians are now living below the poverty line as a result of high inflation, high cost of food items, transportation as well as the cost of goods and services.
As a Church, we are concerned about the recently released cost of living statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which put the inflation rate in Nigeria at 20.8%, the highest in 17 years.
We believe that this is the time that government should show more sensitivity by coming up with some relief measures to cushion the effects on the citizens. This is not out of place at all; after all countries like the United Kingdom and some others are always looking for ways to support their citizens with some kind of relief, like gas support, Covid-19 palliatives and others. Nothing should stop this government from equally devising ways of ameliorating the sufferings and hardships Nigerians are currently being forced to bear.
2. Flood Disaster
The consequences of the flood on the already fragile economy and pauperized citizens are a major concern for us as a Church as well.
The recent flood ravaging many parts of the country calls for urgent attention and retrospect from all and sundry. It has been reported that 33 states in Nigeria have been affected by the flood so far. The destruction of personal and economic infrastructure has invariably created circumstantial economic refugees.
While the causes of the floods remain controversial, the reality of billions of Naira lost and lives prematurely wiped away cannot be denied. Many offices, farms and shops have equally been washed away, portending an imminent food and unemployment crisis.
Historically, Nigeria has been more focused on post-disaster flood response than control. We want to appeal to government to please make reducing and addressing exposure to flood risk a national priority in the government’s disaster risk management agenda.
We hereby sympathize with those who were affected (or are still being affected) by the flood. We also use this medium to appeal to Federal, State and Local Governments, and well-meaning Nigerians to rehabilitate all the victims and provide relief materials for their welfare.
We are calling on relevant Ministries and Agencies of Government to rally around and support Businesses and citizens in ameliorating the loss while designing appropriate policies in addressing the climate change effects to meet the 2050 UN declaration on global warming.
While doing these above, we also appeal to all Nigerians to please, henceforth, in the interests of safety, give attention to scientific predictions/warnings by the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET); the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to avoid future loss of lives and property. Furthermore, we equally call on all Nigerians to desist from building structures on natural water corridors.
3. Insecurity
As a Church, we strongly value safety of lives and properties, and are, therefore, constantly burdened and somewhat traumatised by the growing level of insecurity in the country.
Every day, we all read in newspapers and watch on televisions, gory tales of citizens being kidnapped, killed, or displaced from their homes by all manner of criminals. Daily, incidences of violence have created a specter of fear among the citizens in all parts of the country.
We believe that the security of lives and property is a foremost constitutional responsibility of the Government and where Government fails in this regard, there is great cause for concern.
We note that despite assurances from the Government of being on top of the situation, criminals continue to wreak havoc and have become more emboldened to carry out their nefarious activities against the masses while many politically exposed leaders, protect themselves with a retinue of security men.
Meanwhile, we must commend the way the Armed Forces recently decimated some bandits and criminal elements in their enclaves, and we appeal to the Government to please ensure this laudable tempo is sustained, irrespective of any ethno-religious considerations, in a bid to make Nigeria safer for everyone to live in, and to make Nigeria an attractive destination for investments.
At the state level, we equally call on the Governors, to take up the challenge to step up their activities in securing their States. All hands must be on deck to reverse the deteriorating security issues in the country so that the Government can discharge its primary responsibility of safeguarding the lives and property of the citizens.
4. Youth Unemployment and Nigeria’s future
The future of Nigeria lies with the youths as they are one of society’s main agents of change and progress. But, sadly, the present ruling class in Nigeria is destroying the future of our youths, through a lack of employment opportunities and failure to explore the possibility of channeling their energy towards productive ventures by providing enabling environment for them to thrive in Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs); Agro-business, etc.
In recent times, out of disenchantment with the system, with sadness, the best of our youths are fleeing the country in droves in search of greener pastures. Some even engage in unorthodox means to achieve this, thus exposing their lives to danger, agony and harrowing experiences.
We are appealing to the Governments at all levels to urgently restructure our economic system, develop sincere courage to fight corruption, and address the issue of unemployment in the better interests of employable youths and a more robust future for the country at large. Certainly, concrete efforts must be exerted to tackle the twin challenge of unemployment and poverty.
5. Roads and Other Infrastructural Facilities
On road infrastructure, we as usual urges all three tiers of Government to generate synergies and intensify efforts in the rehabilitation and construction of new roads.
Most of our roads across the length and breadth of the country are still begging for urgent attention and we have found out that criminals use all these bad spots to perpetrate their evils. The Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) should accentuate actions aimed at continuously maintaining all the Federal roads across the country to make them more motor-able to reduce the man-hours being wasted on the highways and the perennial and avoidable loss of lives and properties.
We still counsel that all our leaders from the President, governors and other political leaders in the country must make it a habit to occasionally drive on the roads the people use every day so that they can see the messy ground-level reality and feel the pains of the people they govern. Certainly, we believe that genuine servant-leadership will not call for less.
6. 2023 Election
The 2023 general elections are a few months away, we commend the President, Muhammadu Buhari, for signing into law the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2022 which, happily, introduced the innovative idea of using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) with its electronic transmission of results.
As the countdown to the election draws nearer, the reports we are getting, however, is that some politicians want to distort the use of technology for the 2023 general elections, which is quite sad. We are calling on Nigerians to vote according to their conscience with the future in view, and not allow any manipulation from any political parties or leaders.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we insist that the Church of Jesus Christ is marching on and the forces of hell shall not prevail against it. Amen.
We thank you gentlemen of the press for your presence and humbly urge you to, as usual, represent our views as fairly and clearly as we present them, avoiding all forms of sensationalism.
We also use this as an opportunity to invite you and all your readers to the Rhema World Convention 2022. We pray that the Lord of heavens and earth will meet you at the point of your needs as you come to celebrate with us in Jesus's Name. Amen.
Signed:
Taiwo Akinola, Presiding Bishop, RHEMA CHRISTIAN CHURCH & TOWERS
