By Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has requested that the incoming administration in the country address the increased rate of poverty in the nation.
Comrade Festus Osifo, who is the National President of PENGASSAN, while speaking at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Association in Abuja, stated that the standard of living of most Nigerian citizens has been a case of living from ‘hand-to-mouth.’
The Association also said that despite the promises made by successive governments, the country‘s power supply remains epileptic, thus stifling the growth and investment that are necessary to create employment and lift people out of poverty.
Osifo stated that PENGASSAN is challenging the incoming administration to do things differently by caring for, and valuing the lives of the nation’s citizens.
He maintained that Nigeria started its journey of independence around the same period as Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore, but these countries have long overtaken Nigeria despite its richness in oil, and have joined the league of industrialized nations.
According to him, the high cost of living and other economic issues have combined to worsen the condition of the country, further leading to an increase in the country’s poverty index.c
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 133 million Nigerians out of over 200 million citizens are multi-dimensionally poor, and this opposes the fact that the country is endowed with many human and natural resources.
Osifo lamented that the failure of the previous leaders of the nation to manage the resources of the State has brought about failure in governance.