Publicity Secretary of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, Mr. Joe Igbokwe
The
Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has described as
false, claims by President Goodluck Jonathan that poverty has been
reduced by 50 per cent and his administration had created millions of
jobs.
The party further advised the President
to stop taking Nigerians for a ride by claiming that electricity had
improved drastically.
The party said power generation had not
risen above 4,000Megawatts since 1999 and wondered why the Jonathan
administration was boasting of improved electricity.
The party said this in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe titled, ‘Nigeria at 50’.
The APC said if it was true that millions
of jobs had been created, “why did millions of youths scramble for the
Nigeria Immigration Service jobs where about 20 youths were killed?”
The party said despite the dubious
immigration job recruitment where many youths were fleeced of billions
of naira, Jonathan went ahead to bestow a national honour on the
Comptroller General of the NIS, Mr. David Parradang, on Monday.
The party, therefore, urged Nigerians to ensure that Jonathan is not given a second chance to rule in 2015.
The statement read in part, “Recently
President Jonathan said poverty has been reduced by 50 per cent in
Nigeria. Now, how can anybody believe that we have reduced poverty by 50
per cent when there is massive unemployment in the land? Are we working
with statistics or is it just doing guess work? Is it just dropping
mere figures to please the political hangers-on?
“Why should a President of a country be
talking so off cuff in his belief that Nigerians know nothing and are
not bound to interrogate? Do we just quote figures just for the sake of
it thinking that we are all gullible people who will accept it hook,
line and sinker? Are we not living witnesses of the NIS recruitment
tragedy recently?
“Did you not witness nearly two million
young Nigerians scrambling for 3000 jobs that may have been given out to
girlfriends, relations and friends even before that fatal tragedy? Did
you not see the tragedy of losing nearly 30 young Nigerians due to
stampede for jobs that were not there in the first place?
“Did you not see one of the characters of
the immigration tragedy, Mr. David Parradang, being honoured with
National Award in Abuja few days back? If millions of young graduates
are out of jobs, it becomes a joke taken too far when the President
claims that poverty has been reduced by 50 per cent.”