Jega: Nigeria on the verge of collapsing

…Says leaders blindly running aground

By Kola Alhassan

Erstwhile Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has said the country is on the verge of collapsing, with leaders ‘running the country aground’.

He noted that the 2023 general elections were crucial to the country’s unity at large.

Sources said Jega delivered a keynote address at the 2022 Workers’ Political Conference organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja.

He said: “While 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 pathetic 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 and heightened insecurity.

“The tiny band of elite has virtually destroyed the basis for national cohesion and integration and the reality is that Nigeria, a potentially great nation, is crying for a rescue mission before it is too late.

“Such 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.”