Nigerians are suffering as a result of the elite’s reckless misrule – Jega

Prof. Attahiru Jega, a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, believes Nigeria is on the verge of collapse.

Jega stated this on Wednesday in Abuja at the Nigeria Labour Congress’s 2022 Workers’ Political Conference.

He described the 2023 general elections as crucial for Nigeria’s unity and a watershed moment that could pull the country back from the brink.

“While Nigeria has not completely collapsed, it is on the verge of doing so, as the country’s governance process is being blindly run aground by reckless elites.” And the general elections in 2023 could be a “make or break” epochal moment.

“Given this, all hands must be on deck to prevent our country from impending collapse and to turn it around on a path of good democratic governance for the benefit of Nigerian citizens’ democratic, socioeconomic development, and human security,” he said.

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Jega, who oversaw the general elections in 2011 and 2015, said the state of the Nigerian working class’s socioeconomic conditions is depressing.

Nigerians, he claimed, have continued to suffer under the reckless misrule of a small, rabid, and reckless group of elites.

“The manner in which these myopic ‘elected’ so-called’leaders’ and their collaborators have devastated the Nigerian economy, heightened insecurity, and virtually destroyed the foundation for national cohesion and integration, Nigeria, as a potentially great nation, is crying out for a rescue mission before it is too late,” Jega said.

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To get Nigeria out of its current unwholesome predicament, the former INEC boss added, a broad alliance of progressive forces for national rescue and emancipation was required.

“Without the active engagement and involvement of Nigerian workers through genuine representatives in working-class organizations, such a rescue mission cannot be serious, positive, and successful.”

“We’re working together with other progressive and patriotic Nigerians on projects and movements,” Jega said.