Reckless elites collapsing Nigeria – Attahiru Jega, former INEC Chairman

Professor Attahiru Jega, for Chairman of Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that Nigeria is a collapsing that is struggling to hold together.

The former INEC boss noted that Nigeria is populated with reckless elites who have take over every levers of government to the detriment of the people they are supposed to serve adding that the coming 2023 general election will be a make or break for the country.

Jega, a professor of political science who spoke in Abuja on Wednesday at the 2022 Workers’ Political Conference organised by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) called on workers to mobilise alongside other progressive forces to rescue the country.

He said, “Nigeria may not have totally collapsed, it is in the process of collapsing, as reckless elite in control of the governance process are blindly running the country aground. And the 2023 general elections may be the ‘make or break’ epochal moment.

“The sorry state of the socio-economic conditions under which the Nigerian working people, indeed the overwhelming majority of all citizens live and work, the reckless misrule and misgovernance by a tiny, rabid and reckless band of the elite, and the manner by which these myopic ‘elected’ so-called ‘leaders’ and their collaborators, have devastated the Nigerian economy, heightened insecurity, and virtually destroyed the basis for national cohesion and integration, Nigeria, as a potentially great nation, is crying for a rescue mission before it is too late.”

Jega also noted that any effort to rescue Nigeria from the clutches of parasitic elites will not be wholesome without active support from the working class which NLC represents.

“A rescue mission cannot be serious, positive and successful, without the active engagement and involvement of the Nigerian workers through their genuine representatives in working-class organizations and movements, in alliance with other progressive and patriotic Nigerians.

“Given this, all hands of progressive forces must be on deck to prevent our country from imminent collapse, and to turn it around on to a trajectory of good democratic governance for beneficial democratic, socio-economic development, and human security for Nigerian citizens.

“A broad alliance of progressive forces for national rescue and emancipation is absolutely required to get Nigeria out of the current unwholesome predicament in which it finds itself.

“The deliberations at this conference, guided by the lead paper presentation and panel discussion, should help us chart a course for a reinforced commitment to national emancipation and more active engagement participation of Nigerian workers in our current and future political processes, ” Jega reiterated.