INSECURITY: Poor Nigerians may ignite a revolution against us — Senate expresses fear

Barely three weeks to the end of the 8th Senate, Senator Chukwuka Utazi representing Enugu North Senatorial district, on Tuesday, sponsored a motion for a bridge in the gap between rich and poor Nigerians.

In the motion, the Enugu lawmaker expressed fears that Nigeria’s poor masses may ignite a revolution against the rich if recent happenings in the country were anything to go by.

He stressed that the audacious kidnappings and upsurge in banditry by criminal elements against well-meaning Nigerians which have defied all known security measures were testamentary to his fears.

His motion “Observes with alarm the rapacious daredevilry among the young people in Nigeria and the sharp upsurge in violent crimes especially kidnapping, arm robbery and unprovoked attacks on innocent persons across the whole landscape of Nigeria.”

Utazi pointed out that no Nigeria highway in any part of the zone was safe any longer, noting that the Nigerian elite have abandoned driving on roads to travelling by train.

Describing the challenge as multifarious, he observed that North-Central Nigeria known for farming is now under the grip of killer herders, a situation he warned would lead to famine.

“Today, the chicken has returned home to roost; the downtrodden are revolting,” Utazi insisted.

In his contribution, Senator Shehu Sani decried the absence of priority for the poor masses in government programmes, stating that as parliamentarians, there was pressure from the poor people on them.

Sani noted that the socio-economic pattern of Nigeria was that of master-servant relationship which he said cannot work again.

He called for a conscious intervention to better the life of poor Nigerians.

The Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan said the Senate could quickly introduce the desired laws despite time constraints.

“Though, we have three weeks to go, we can do something particularly that it was common knowledge to all of us that we witnessed the condition of Nigerians when we went on campaign,” he said.

On his part, Ben Murray Bruce said, “in finding solution to the menace, the country has to grow its economic indices by 15% for the next 30 years to employ everybody.”

He expressed disappointment that government was not investing in education enough, noting that, “instead of buying books, they were buying bullets for the teeming youths.”

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu called for proper statistics and concrete steps by the government to tackle unemployment in Nigeria.