…Nigeria escapes disaster -Masari
…Buhari pushes Nigeria to the brinks – Secondus
By Andy Asemota
Current statistics that show astronomical increment in unemployment, poverty and inflation have elicited the outpouring of mixed reactions from experts and other prominent Nigerians.

According to the figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), among others, about 33% of Nigerians had become unemployed.

Former Head, Department of Economics, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Abuja, Prof. Ganyat Adesina-Uthman, said that figure is alarming for a country battling various forms of insecurity, youth restiveness, poverty and inflation.

“The time bomb is actually trying to explode because you can see the rate kidnappings have increased at an alarming rate not only in the North but also in the South because not only Fulani are perpetuating this evil; Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa are among others. The poor standard of living cuts across all tribes in the country,” she said.

Adesina-Uthman, who described the soaring unemployment rate as inevitable in the face of COVID-19 and fall in petroleum price in the global market, stressed that the nation could have reduced the rate better through provision of infrastructure and restructuring so that people and different tiers of government could think out of the box in investing in job creation.

“It didn’t come as a surprise, as an aftermath of COVID-19 as well as the demand and supply shocks at once that is really terrible. The distribution of the palliatives by the government was not well coordinated, especially at a period when disengagement of workers by some firms worsened the situation in the country,” she further stated.

Reacting to the worries of Nigerians, Prince Uche Secondus, National Chairman of the major opposition party (PDP), described the unemployment situation in the country as “fearful data.”

Secondus said: “By the time you minus the minors and the aged in the nation, you will discover that virtually all youth population are unemployed. It’s an established fact. Remove the children, remove the aged, you will see that virtually all the youth made unemployed. The country is in problem.”

Speaking during the official presentation of the 2019 elections review committee’s report of the PDP in Abuja, he lamented: “It is not difficult to see why the nation is being overwhelmed by insecurity, kidnappings and all what not. Our youth population has been ignored, that is the truth.”

But assessing the situation, Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State, condemned politicisation of the state of the economy by any individual or group.

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Masari asserted that “no political party since independence of Nigeria has brought positive social intervention programmes as the APC led government. I can say so from the social interventions that have gone into my state.

“Masari maintained that COVID-19 pandemic and the fall of petroleum price in global market were not a creation of the Nigerian government but the nation would have been brought to its kneels without food if President Muhammad Buhari had not initiated its strategic policies.