Atiku: 2019 not a good year for Nigerians

Former Vice-president Atiku Abubakar says 2019 has not been a good year for Nigerians.

In a statement by his media office, Atiku said 2020 is a year for the government to do things differently and make deliberate effort to improve the wellbeing of the people.

He said disobedience to the rule of law is a “bad advertisement” for the nation, adding that in 2020, the federal government “should not pretend to be democratic but act according to the fundamentals of a democracy”.

“It is incumbent on government at all levels to pursue policies that will provide decent housing to the mass majority; put food on the table; provide healthcare and education,” Atiku said.

“We cannot continue to do things the same way and expect a different outcome. It is therefore high time we caused a rejig of economic policies that will promote an expansion of the economy and create jobs opportunities aplenty.

“At the individual level, this moment calls for more empathy and sacrifice. The New Year and a new decade come with the opportunity to make better impressions in our lives and in the lives of people around us.

“I wish to restate that our collective call for rule of law and our history about the struggle for democratic rule did not envisage a situation where judicial pronouncements would be worth less than the paper upon which they are rendered.

“It is a bad advertisement for the country and its democracy if declarations made by the court are not respected without the executive arm of government agreeing to same.

“I do not share the sentiment when some people claim that the outgone 2019 was a successful year for Nigerians. Such sentiments is reductionist and does the harm of making us have a false sense of victory.”

He called on Nigerians to challenge inadequacies, saying the country cannot” afford to slumber and submit to defeat”.

“The problems of extreme poverty and scant investments in education play huge roles in fueling the problems of violent extremism that we spent the past decade contending with,” he said.

“We cannot win the fight against terrorism if we do nothing to reduce or eliminate poverty and illiteracy.

“The reality of this new decade requires of us to re-calibrate our approaches and to pursue some tough choices. If failure is not an option, then we must let go of our egos and conveniences.”