An elder statesman, Chief Hycinth Ngwu, has called on political leaders and policies formulators to ensure governmental policies and programmes that would directly touch the lives of the people and reduce hardship in the country.
Ngwu, who is a prominent community leader in Enugu, urged Nigerians to maintain peace within neighbourhoods and communities, as no meaningful development can take place without peace.
The statesman made the call on Wednesday in Enugu, while reacting to the developmental efforts of Nigeria at its 66th Independence anniversary.
He said that previous and present administrations have put in place policies and programmes to reset the socio-economic fabric of the nation.
Ngwu said that while the removal of fuel subsidy, and unification of the foreign exchange market has good intentions, their impact is yet to reflect on the lives and livelihoods of the vast majority of Nigerians.
He urged leaders to ensure that public resources are properly managed, while citizens remain patient with reforms aimed at improving the socio-economic status of the country.
The elder statesman noted that at 66 years, the country is still struggling on keeping the peace and co-existence as a country; adding that the founding leaders of Nigeria envisaged a closely united, bonded and peaceful country.
He called for a return to policies that promote local production, indigenous industries and entrepreneurship, arguing that excessive dependence on imports has continued to weaken the country’s productive capacity.
“We are yet to achieve economic independence even as we needed to do more on non oil revenue earns as the greater part of the world is moving towards greener and clean energy.
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“Greater emphasis should be on skills acquisition, creativity and entrepreneurship education system, as academic qualifications without practical skills could leave graduates dependent on scarce white collar jobs.
“We ought to be economically productive nation capable of producing and exporting goods while developing its human capital,” he said.
Ngwu noted that the current insecurity and social instability can be partly attributed to poverty and ignorance, while calling for greater honesty and trust between leaders and citizens.
“Corruption, tribalism and selfishness must be addressed if Nigeria is to achieve peace and lasting progress,” he added.
He also called for the scrapping of state electoral commissions as they have not helped in deepening democracy at that level.
