Vice-President Kashim Shettima has said the Federal Government will support families of victims of recent stampedes across the country.
Shettima made this known in a condolence message on Sunday in Abuja.
He expressed sorrow over the losses and offered prayers and condolences to the affected families.
Recall that on Saturday in Okija, Anambra, a Christmas palliative distribution event turned tragic with 22 persons losing their lives in an early morning stampede. The same day in Abuja, another tragedy struck when ten persons died during an annual Christmas food-sharing event at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Maitama. There was also a stampede on Wednesday at the Islamic High School, Bashorun, Ibadan, Oyo State, where about 35 children lost their lives and others sustained injuries during a holiday fun fair.
The vice-president, who described the incidents as a national tragedy, revealed that the Federal Government had directed relevant agencies to provide immediate support to affected families.
“I am extremely saddened by these tragic incidents that have claimed innocent lives.
My prayers and thoughts are with the grieving families of all victims, including those who sustained injuries and are undergoing treatment.
“I am particularly distraught by the fact that so many lives of Nigerians, particularly children, have been lost in stampedes that ought to have been avoided through proper planning and organisation,” he said.
He prayed the Almighty God to grant eternal rest to the souls of the departed.
“We stand ready to support the bereaved families through this difficult period, and no effort will be spared in providing the necessary assistance they need.”
Allow us breathe, save Nigeria from debt – OsitaOkechukwu to Tinubu
A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), OsitaOkechukwu, on Sunday appealed to President Bola Tinubu to rescue Nigerians from a debt trap in order to fulfill his Renewed Hope Agenda and allow citizens to breathe.
Okechukwu lamented that he cannot fathom how the Renewed Hope Agenda will bring the intended succor to Nigerians when the country is burdened with all manner of debts, both local and foreign, “prohibitive interest rates on treasury bills, dangerous dollar-denominated loans, and short-term Eurobonds, making the fiscal restructuring of debt service imperative.”
In a statement he signed, Okechukwu humbly appealed to the president, citing Benjamin Franklin’s admonition that “he who goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing,” and called for a high-powered panel of inquiry to reexamine Nigeria’s debts to uncover genuine and less-than-transparent debt transactions.
He cautioned that the huge debt burden threatens Nigeria’s nascent democracy and drains resources meant for health, education, and poverty alleviation.
According to Okechukwu: “It is regrettable that the budget for Defence (N4.91tr), Infrastructure (N4.06tr), Education (N3.52tr), and Health (N2.48tr), totaling N14.97tr, is far less than the N15.8trillion budgeted for debt service.”
Okechukwu acknowledged the removal of fuel subsidies, giving kudos to President Tinubu, but lamented that the humongous debt service has now become the new anti-production elephant in the room.
He said: “Yes, the fuel subsidy is gone, albeit the subsidy regime had links to the planlessness and squandermania that governed the sordid debt exercise. Or do we forget outliers like when Dr. NgoziOkonjo-Iweala, the current WTO President, instituted a panel that probed and found that the fuel subsidy was riddled with corruption, upon which the culprits resorted to kidnapping her mother?”
“Accordingly, Mr. President should dust off Okonjo-Iweala’s files and other bad loan files with the intent to recover monies and return Nigeria to a productive economy.”
Okechukwu recalled with nostalgia that Nigeria’s first loan from the Paris Club in 1964 was $13.1 million for the construction of the Niger Dam. He also mentioned Nigeria’s debt relief deal under President OlusegunObasanjo’s administration in 2005, where $35.994 billion in debt was canceled.
He noted, paradoxically, that today, Nigeria’s debt burden stands at N121.67 trillion, equivalent to $91.46 billion USD.
“The only way to break the fetters of the debt burden, as we did in 2005, is through fiscal restructuring. In other words, a high-powered multilateral panel of inquiry must ascertain our actual debt and seek debt cancellation,” he said.
On what must be done, the former Director General of Voice of Nigeria urged PresidentTinubu to make bold decisions.
Okechukwu added: “I agree totally with President Tinubu that we must make bold decisions, even though they may be painful. Accordingly, the necessary bold decisions at this critical juncture are not excessive taxation or high tariffs, but a multilateral, high-powered panel of inquiry comprising eminent local and international statesmen to reexamine our domestic and foreign debts as the only answer to save Nigerians from the debt trap.