Nigerian students, under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), at the weekend, appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently find a solution to the hunger-induced stampede currently ravaging the nation’s societies.
NANS particularly want the Bola Tinubu-led federal government to evolve a curative solution to the country’s deteriorating economic situation, which they said is responsible for what they termed “national embarrassment”, which they said is experienced while scrambling for a share of benevolent palliatives and eventually stampede.
The student body, in a statement issued on Sunday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, and signed by the Clerk of the Senate, NANS National, Abdul-Yekinn Odunayo, warned that the government’s failure to address hunger in the nation may lead to more fatal stampedes as Nigerians scamper for free food.
With particular mentioning of the stampedes in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital; that if the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja and Anambra State, where scores of lives were lost, particularly the children, Odunayo noted that hunger has become so endemic in the land, driving scores of Nigerians to their untimely death.
Describing the sad occurrences as “unfortunate and national disgrace”, Odunayo said the ugly situation would have been averted if the Federal Government had addressed the parlour economic situation with its attendant poverty and hunger.
He pointed out further that Nigerians are hardworking people who rarely resort to scampering for freebies. He insists hunger in the country is real and urgent steps must be taken to address it before more innocent lives are lost.
Odunayo said the government at all levels failed to allow the situation in the country to degenerate without any meaningful solutions to ameliorate the poverty confronting Nigerians.
While bemoaning what he described as a “nonchalant and insensitive” disposition of the FG to the plights of Nigerians, Odunayo said that no amount of condolences and compensations could atone for the lives of the people lost during the stampede.
“Nigerians have never had it this bad. The situation in the country is challenging, and it should be a serious concern for a government that knows its onions. We are tired of excuses and palliatives that could not even reach the poor of the poor. The situation would not have been this critical if the government had empowered many Nigerians through various interventions.
“We, hereby, implore the federal government, under the leadership of President Tinubu and state governments in the country, to wake up to their constitutional duties and give breadth to the already asphyxiated economy. Hunger is accurate, and poverty is absolute. No region of the nation is immune to this hunger situation. Therefore, urgent measures must be taken to reverse this ugly trend. Otherwise, the government should prepare for more hunger-induced fatal stampedes nationwide, “he said.
