President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has been called upon by the Senate, to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, asking it to declare a state of emergency on unemployment in Nigeria.
The parliament also asked the Federal Government to raise the budget for education, noting these are some of the measures that can reduce the spate of youth restiveness and insecurity in the country.
According to the lawmakers, the rising spate of security crises across the country was as a result of the neglect of the masses by the elite.
These were part of the resolutions reached by the lawmakers at the plenary on Wednesday when they adopted a motion moved by Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North), entitled, ‘Bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots in Nigeria to nip in the bud the seeds of a looming violent revolution.’
Prayers of the motion as adopted were that the Senate should “urge the Federal Government of Nigeria to declare an emergency on unemployment in Nigeria, create more pro-poor social safety nets, dedicate 20 per cent of recovered loot to fund same, and take other urgent measures to stimulate production and other economic activities to engage young citizens of the country.”
Another was to “enjoin the Federal Government to increase the budgets to education by allocating and effectively implementing 26 per cent of the yearly budget to education beginning from the next budget cycle in 2020 and enjoin states to do same.”
The Senate however voted out the prayer to urge the Federal Government to “adopt the policy of annual recruitment for all the security organs of at least 100,000 personnel per year.” Rather, the lawmakers adopted two additional prayers, including that the Federal Government adopts a policy of one-factory-per-local government area and set up an Unemployment Support Fund where everyone would contribute.
Moving the motion, Utazi said, “What we are witnessing today is a culmination of long years of neglect of the welfare and future of younger generations and unwillingness by both the government and the elite to plan for the future or read the signs of upheaval. Today, the chicken has returned home to roost: the downtrodden are revolting. Hitherto docile beggars have risen in arms, forcing those with powers of patronage to beg for safety. The elite are being attacked. We have in our hands a dictatorship of the beggars, fuelled by drugs and poverty.
“While the whole country is being dangerously menaced from every angle, the northern part of the country has come under mass revolt by the poor expressed in the rampant criminality of the neglected. The poverty and unemployment rates of the country are haunting it. An idle mind, they say, tempts the devil. It is sesame for anarchy.
Seconding the motion, Senator Shehu Sani warned that mass revolution was looming. He said, “I believe that this motion is a wake-up call for the privileged class to look at the state of the nation and to know that their survival is hinged on their ability and capacity to make the ordinary man comfortable.
“What has sparked up revolutions in countries like the Soviet Union? What has sparked up revolution in countries that have established government that are people-oriented? It is the failure of the elite to address those very fundamental issues.”
The Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, who praised the Buhari-led administration for its social programmes, stated that more needed to be done. “It is not only about creating jobs but also about creating a very clement economic environment for the citizens,” he said.
In his submission, the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, asked the Clerk to take note of the resolutions for onward transmission to the Executive.
He said, “There is the need to get accurate statistics of the unemployed and this impedes plan. This will enable planning. Before we get to the issue of employment, everybody needs to make contribution for the wellbeing of all. When we have the statistics of the unemployed, we need to place them on a salary and I suggest the minimum wage.”
