The President of Nigerian Baptist Church convention, Reverend Israel Akanji and Senator Shehu Sani have called on the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address the lingering fuel hike facing the country.
They made this known while speaking with newsmen at the sidelines of the 64th Baptist Ministers conference holding at the Baptist Seminary, Kawo Kaduna on Wednesday.
According to the President of the Baptist church convention, “The problem Nigerians have is the suddenness of the sacrifice that has to be made. Things dropped too sharply, and Nigerians are crying out.
“We’re not saying that the government is doing nothing, but we’re appealing to the government to program the various steps that will be taken so that it won’t be too heavy on its citizens.
“The government must work on in the area of transportation, and this is because fuel has been too expensive, and something has to be done.
“If fuel goes down, things will go down, and Nigerians have already experienced the painful part, stressing if fuel can come down a little, then farm products will be lower, house rent will be reduced, and the issue of school fees will also go down.
“I am a proprietor of a University. If you know how much we have to pay for diesel, the University can hardly function in this situation.
“Things are too expensive, and we need government intervention, noting if they can do it in the fuel area, that will help the masses.”
On his part, Senator Shehu Sani said there was no doubt that Nigerians are suffering, and it is difficult to feed their families, provide medical care, educate their families, and even transport themselves, saying this was not just a product of economic reform but was a result of the things Nigerians refused to do in the past.
He said, “All nations that are going through transformation process, must undergo a period of pain and sacrifices, but sacrifices must not be from the poor people; people in positions of power must be seen to be making sacrifices.
“We’re a nation of 224 million people, the biggest black nation in the whole world, and in reality, we cannot shy away from the serious economic challenges that the masses are facing.
“The President, the Minister, the Governors, Senators, and people within the position of authority and power must make sacrifices, that’s how we can make this nation move forward.”
While commenting on governance in Kaduna State, Shehu Sani observed that the wrongs that were done from 2015 to 2019 are given necessary attention by the current administration of Governor Uba Sani.
He said the Baptist Ministers Conference offers the citizens the opportunity to make their contribution towards the peace, unity, and collective progress of the country.
Also, the former CAN Chairman, Kaduna State, Rev. Joseph Hayab, said everybody can attest to the fact that there is a shift from what the country used to experience as regards to fight against terrorism in the country, adding the reality is that it is not yet over as long as we’re still experiencing pockets of kidnapping, people are being terrorized, killed and family still struggling to pay huge amount of ransom.
“The other time the President in his speech, said 300 terrorists have been killed, that shows that these terrorists are more than what we’re thinking, noting if we have dislodged 300 and we are still having them in their number that means if you look at the setting of the military squad that means they’re many.
“So a lot needs to be done to ensure every terrorist, every person that’s causing Nigerians pain and is denying other citizens sleep and even causing them sorrow by losing their loved ones, should not be spared,” Hayap stated.
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