The recent looting of government-owned and private food storages and warehouses in Adamawa State was concerning .
Media reports had it that the looters complained of hardship following the removal of subsidy on petrol and the high cost of foodstuffs.
The ransacking was so intense that the governor of Adamawa State declared a 24-hour curfew across the state.
The governor said the government was compelled to announce the sit-at-home order to check the activities of the looters in the state capital looting shops and stores.
The police command in the state similarly released a statement warning residents to be law-abiding and stay away from chaotic activities.
The state’s commissioner of police, Afolabi Babatola, said he had deployed a team drawn from different units to enforce the 24-hour curfew declared by the state government.
Although the governor lifted the curfew, some days later, the incident was a clear indication of the times not just in the state but in most, if not all, parts of the country.
For some, the unfortunate event was a sad reminder of the Covid 19 palliative looting spree in 2020. Protests had degenerated into arson and looting as hoodlums under the guise of the #EndSARS protest turned it into a bazaar of looting, stealing and destruction.
A clear pattern emerged from the apparent mayhem, as angry mobs turned to searching for warehouses where COVID-19 palliatives are kept across the country. the looting frenzy.
While It is quite a relief that the Adamawa incident has been contained, we are not unmindful that the causative factors must be quickly addressed to forestall a possible repeat of such an act.
For starters, we condemn this criminal act in all its ramification. We do support, in any form or manner, the hijacking of public food items and ransacking of private properties by any mob. We aver that no reason permits such crude action.
We believe no individual should be deprived his or her share of the commonwealth, nor should private business owners be subjected to the tragic experience of seeing their investments ravaged by looters.
Still, we believe that it is insightful and instructive that such a scenario could repeat itself barely three years after, even though it is not totally surprising that such an act could occur considering the prevailing socio-economic situation.
45 Arrested Over Looting Of NEMA Warehouses In Adamawa
With the high level of youth unemployment and restiveness, coupled with the biting economic realities worsened by the recent subsidy removal, the entire system seems to have been stretched to a new limit.
This calls for a strident move to ensure the policies to reboot the economy are fired up as quickly as possible.
The economic indices show quick work needs to be done. According to KPMG has stated that the Nigerian unemployment rate had increased to 37.7per cent in 2022 and will further rise to 40.6per cent, due to the continuing inflow of job seekers into the job market.
The multinational consulting firm, in a newly released report tagged ‘KPMG Global Economy Outlook report, H1 2023,’ said unemployment will continue to be a challenge due to the slower-than-required economic growth and the inability of the economy to absorb the 4-5 million new entrants into the Nigerian job market every year.
“Unemployment is expected to continue to be a major challenge in 2023 due to the limited investment by the private sector, low industrialisation and slower than required economic growth and consequently the inability of the economy to absorb the 4-5 million new entrants into the Nigerian job market every year. Although the National Bureau of Statistics recorded an increase in the national unemployment rate from 23.1per cent in 2018 to 33.3per cent in 2020. We estimate that this rate has increased to 37.7per cent in 2022 and will rise further to 40.6 per cent in 2023.”
The report also said that in 2024, the unemployment rate will grow to 43 per cent while inflation will accelerate to 20.3 per cent in 2023 and 20.0 per cent in 2024.
Evidently, the federal and state governments have their work cut out for them. The subsidy removal provides an opportunity for the political class to rethink their policies and lifestyles to provide room for the much-needed economic resurgence that the country needs.
What’s more, the political class needs to get with the program that things need to change and fast.
