A civil society group under the aegis of Conference of Northern States Civil Society Networks has expressed worries about the nation’s rising unemployment, lingering insecurity, scarcity of naira, political thuggery, as well as attempts by some governments at both national and states to shrink the civic space in Nigeria.
The group, in a statement signed by Ambassador Ibrahim Waiya, president of Kano Civil Society Forum (KCSF) stated that lingering issues of banditry, insurgency, kidnapping for ransom and oil bunkering threatens the country’s peace, adding that most of the recent threat to security in Nigeria could be directly attributed to the infractions of some of the political leaders who always allow their personal and partisan sentiment as well as greed to take over their sense of judgment.
The while the group strongly supports the Naira redesign policy, it wants the implementation framework to be inclusive as they believe that other issues that have immensely contributed to the rising threat to security in the country are the newly introduced naira redesigned policy, increasing hate speech amongst political actors and deviation from issue-based campaign to personality attacks, religious and ethnic profiling, as well as promotion of regional sentiment which threaten the corporate existence of a united Nigeria.
Consequently, the coalition is deeply saddened by continuous attempts by some governments both national and state shrink the civic space in Nigeria. “The recent decision of Zamfara state government banning the activities and operations of all NGOs in the state is not only condemnable but also a total contravention to the fundamental rights of Nigerians guaranteed in chapter four of the 1999 constitution. We, therefore, call on Zamfara state Government to reverse this decision.
“As professional career civil society actors, we are disturbed by the emerging trend where some political leaders occupying exalted positions in some states would stoop too low, to sponsor some civil society organizations to organize protests against a public servant, who is empowered by law to undertake a crusade against corrupt persons, in Nigeria. We wish to put on record that, the groups protesting in some parts of Lagos State do not represent CSOs from all over the country, therefore, are not speaking on our behalf.
“We, the members of the Conference of Northern States Civil Society Networks, wish to encourage the leadership of EFCC to continue on its current path of chasing the corrupt elements in and within the power irrespective of tribe, religion and region to rid our country of corruption, and to bring them to book.
”We wish to categorically state that, as members of the Conference of Northern States Civil Society Networks, from the Nineteen Northern States and FCT, pass a vote of confidence on the leadership of Abdulrasheed Bawa of the EFCC, and shall continue to support the Commission in the discharge of its constitutional mandate. “The statement read.
