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Mr Christopher Ebeniro, the Acting Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Abia, has identified insecurity and hunger as key factors that can derail Nigeria's democracy.
Speaking on ``13 Years of Uninterrupted Civilian Rule in Nigeria on Friday in Umuahia, Ebeniro said that ``the feat is a demonstration that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria’’.
He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that Nigerians should thank God for the achievement, ‘’in terms of sustainability of democracy since 1999’’.
He, however, attributed the sustainability of democracy in the country to ‘’the eagerness of Nigerians to go the way of democracy.
‘’It is not that those factors that disrupted democratic rule in the past are no more there. It is only that Nigerians have decided to bear with the situation,’’ he said.
Ebeniro noted that ‘’Nigeria is still battling with corruption in high places, unemployment, nepotism, tribal and clannish tendencies.’’
He appealed to the nation’s leaders to show greater commitment in dealing with the challenges and ‘’stop offering excuses for their inadequacies.
‘’Our leaders must have firm grip and great commitment in dealing with our problems rather than giving excuses because they saw the problems before offering themselves to serve.
‘’The political class should save Nigerians the agony of returning to Egypt, due to the failure of the government to lead them out of poverty, suffering and frustration,’’ he said.
He said the existing situation should be ameliorated by the nation’s political leaders.
‘’Security challenges have become the bane of Nigeria and it looks like we have surrendered to the problem because all the efforts to tackle the problem have proved abortive."
He noted that no nation can develop steadily without adequate security of lives and property of the citizenry.
‘’Security helps a nation to stabilise and harness both the human and material resources for national development."
Ebeniro said further that poverty and unemployment had been on the increase, noting that ‘’many families now find it difficult to feed.’’
He said that the failure of successive administrations to diversify the nation’s economy would not augur well for the citizenry.
He said that the high rate of youth unemployment stemmed from over-dependence on oil as the country could not achieve rapid economic and industrial growth.
"Our leaders are not thinking of how to create wealth but their business is travelling to Abuja to share oil revenue every month."
