The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has described as false, claims by President Goodluck Jonathan that his administration had reduced poverty by 50 per cent and created millions of jobs.
President Jonathan on Saturday while speaking at the South-South Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) political rally in Benin City, tagged ‘Unity Mega Rally’, said the country had reduced its poverty rate by 50 per cent under his watch.
In its reaction to the claim yesterday, the Lagos APC also advised Mr. Jonathan to stop taking Nigerians for a ride by claiming that electricity had improved drastically.
The party said power generation had not risen above 4,000Megawatts since 1999 and wondered where the present administration got its fact on improved electricity generation.
The party said this in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe titled, ‘Nigeria at 54’.
According to Igbokwe, if it was true that millions of jobs had been created, “why did millions of youths scramble for the Nigeria Immigration Service jobs where about 20 youths were killed?”
The party said despite the dubious immigration job recruitment where many youths were fleeced of billions of naira, President Jonathan went ahead to bestow a national honour on the Comptroller General of the NIS, Mr. David Parradang, on Monday.
The party, therefore, urged Nigerians to ensure that Jonathan is not given a second chance to rule in 2015.
The statement read in part, “Recently President Jonathan said poverty has been reduced by 50 per cent in Nigeria. Now, how can anybody believe that we have reduced poverty by 50 per cent when there is massive unemployment in the land? Are we working with statistics or is it just doing guess work? Is it just dropping mere figures to please the political hangers-on?
“Why should a President of a country be talking so off cuff in his belief that Nigerians know nothing and are not bound to interrogate? Do we just quote figures just for the sake of it thinking that we are all gullible people who will accept it hook, line and sinker? Are we not living witnesses of the NIS recruitment tragedy recently?
“Did you not witness nearly two million young Nigerians scrambling for 3000 jobs that may have been given out to girlfriends, relations and friends even before that fatal tragedy? Did you not see the tragedy of losing nearly 30 young Nigerians due to stampede for jobs that were not there in the first place?
“Did you not see one of the characters of the immigration tragedy, Mr. David Parradang, being honoured with National Award in Abuja few days back? If millions of young graduates are out of jobs, it becomes a joke taken too far when the President claims that poverty has been reduced by 50 per cent”.
