Presidency Slams Ezekwesili: ‘Nigeria Collapsing Only In Your Dreams’

The Presidency has disagreed with the 2019 presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Dr Oby Ezekwesili, on her claim that “Nigeria is in multiple crisis” and in “a state of collapse” under the management of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ezekwesili, who is a former Vice-President of the Africa division of the World Bank, had made the statement during today’s “Sunday Politics” of Channels Television anchored by Seun Okinbaloye which was monitored by THE WHISTLER.

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The former education minister recalled that she had previously advised that the Executive and Legislative arms of government should come together and have a conversion on how to fix the challenges facing the country.

“It is necessary for the President (Muhammadu Buhari) and the political leadership at the National Assembly to come together and convene what I consider a ‘State of the Union’ conversation.

“It is important for there to be a very serious conversation because everything seems to have fallen apart. We practically have no institutions that are standing in their credibility at this time and you know in the definition of state collapse when you look a the issue of security, economy, social cohesion, and political stability, when these four things are in the negativity, then you are fast heading toward what is known as ‘state collapse’.

“Initially I kept saying that we were in a fragile country. Now we’re fast heading towards the threshold where you have a collapse and we can’t stand watching while that happens.”

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The former presidential candidate who claimed that “Nigeria is not in good place,” said there needs to be a conversation “on what we will do with Nigeria”.

She said economically, Nigeria cannot continue to grow at the rate of 3% yearly,  adding that, “Our unemployment level is at 24 generally but when you look at the youthful population, it goes at more than 40% What are you going to do with this? You look at the education crisis, health crisis, infrastructure crisis, public finance crisis, debt crisis…I mean the paralysis is unbelievable.”

Ezekwesili further said it is important that those who hold the reins of power to listen to the “many  voices that there needs to be a conversation”.

But presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garaba Shehu, who spoke on the programme via phone call from Daura, Katsina State, where President Buhari had gone to observe the Sallah celebration, advised those who think the country is in a state of collapse to wake up from their dreams.

“If the country is collapsing, it is collapsing in somebody’s dream and they should wake up,” said Shehu.

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While arguing that, “Nothing is collapsing” and that the country is strong, the presidential spokesperson said it is those who went into the 2019 presidential elections and lost to President Buhari that have resulted to creating negative narratives about the country.

But responding to Shehu on the programme, Ezekwesili said the presidential spokesperson’s response shows that “this government is completely disconnected from the reality of the country and the people that it seeks to govern.

“There is a serious ‘stone deafness’ around the government and it does not hold well for Nigerians. They can afford the luxury of anecdotal conversation. I wasn’t talking anecdotes here. I was telling you that when you have the four levels of crisis that in mentioned showing up in a country at the same time, what we have seen in studies through the course of history and in the governance process is that that the county is either defined as a fragile state or it begins to climb the state of collapse and that we must avert collapse. This is analytical, I am not talking stories here, I am not shocked that the response of the government is to make it a conversation about people who think they want to (grab power).

“I am not going to get into that realm because it is not helpful for the Nigerian people. I just need the government to know that the citizens of this country are patriotic to the extent that the government does the right thing, in other words the loyalty of government to the citizens is when the government does the right things. The loyalty of citizens to their country is permanent because government comes an it goes. It doesn’t matter, she” added.

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