The nation’s economic suffering and increasing levels of insecurity have been denounced by the Students Representative Council of the Obafemi Awolowo University Students’ Union.
In a statement sent to our correspondent on Sunday after it was released on the Ile-Ife campus, the SRC urged the Federal Government to address these issues right away.
Nigerians have been suffering due to the severe economic conditions in the nation, particularly since President Bola Tinubu removed the fuel subsidy upon taking office on May 29, 2023, which caused the price of gasoline to rise from about N200 to over N600.
In addition, a lot of Nigerians are bemoaning the hardship caused by the ongoing depreciation of the naira against the US dollar, which has increased the price of goods and services in the nation.
On February 8, 2024, President Tinubu issued an executive order releasing 102,000 metric tons of different types of grains from the Strategic Reserve and the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria as a temporary response to the country’s worsening food crisis and the increasing cost of commodities.
However, the OAU students claimed that the economic hardship “reflects the sheer negligence and incompetence of our leaders” in a statement released by the Great IFE SRC’s Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and Clerk, respectively—Ganiyu Yusuf, Akande Peter, and Praise Adesoji.
The statement went on, “This worrying economic downturn has led to an unbearable cost of living, making it harder for the average Nigerian to afford basic necessities.”
Regarding insecurity, they declared, “Citizens nationwide are feeling fear and apprehension due to the unprecedented levels of rampant cases of insecurity, including kidnapping and banditry. The government’s inability to put its citizens’ safety and security first is completely intolerable and will not stand any longer.
“The government’s neglect of the education sector, evident in insufficient budget allocations and underfunding of tertiary institutions,” was another criticism leveled by the student leaders.
Since December 2023, there have been an increasing number of insecure incidents across the nation, including kidnappings in Abuja, Lagos, Ogun, and the Plateau.
On Saturday, it was also reported that some bandits broke into the Igabi communities of Gwada and Kassam, as well as the Kauru local government areas of Kaduna. Nine people were killed and seven injured, and numerous others, including a retired director of the Central Bank of Nigeria, were taken hostage.
The state government acknowledged the incident in an official statement issued by Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner Oversighting Internal Security and Home Affairs, but it made no mention of the people who were killed and kidnapped in the state’s LGAs of Igabi and Kauru.
