ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has urged the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, to take immediate action to alleviate the hardship faced by Nigerians due to high poverty levels.
AAN has suggested several measures, including reviewing the borrowing spree, auditing the election process, and increasing funding for security agencies.
Dr Jummai Umar-Ajijola, the Board Chair of AAN, released a statement after the Board of Trustees' 49th meeting in Abuja, calling on the government to improve distribution infrastructure, crack down on fuel hoarding, and increase fuel importation to address the short-term challenges.
AAN has also urged Nigeria to invest in domestic refining capacity, diversify the economy to reduce dependence on oil, and promote alternative energy sources to address the long-term challenges.
The organization has called for a national debate to address critical challenges that still confront the electoral process, to ensure more transparency and build peoples' confidence in the democratic process.
The civil society group also called Nigeria's federal government to halt its borrowing spree and offer sustainable solutions to stimulate the country's economy. The group condemned President Buhari's recent $800 million loan request and urged the Senate to reject it.
Additionally, the group recommended that the incoming government, led by Bola Tinubu, prioritize conducting a national census to provide reliable data for policymaking, planning, and resource allocation.
The group called for adequate planning to reach communities and locations with security threats during the census.
Furthermore, the group urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure the availability and accessibility of new naira notes before the December 31, 2023 deadline for the old naira notes' validity, as declared by the Supreme Court.
The group stressed that the CBN should make the currency difficult to counterfeit to avoid subjecting Nigerians to the hardship experienced in the first quarter of 2023.
0 Comments