Melaye wonders how Nigerians can keep quiet in the face of the high cost of living and the rampaging activities of bandits across the country
A former senator who represented Kogi West in the 8th National Assembly, Dino Melaye, has wondered how Nigerians are silent in the face of the economic woes they are passing through.
Melaye also queried how the state of insecurity in the country has not provoked them to anger.
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Nigeria’s official data collection agency, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says that prices of goods and services rose approximately 18 per cent from a year earlier. The implication is that Nigerians now pay an extra 18 per cent to purchase goods and services even when their income has not increased by that proportion.
Like Melaye, many analysts have said Nigerians are also insecure at a rate only comparable to the civil ear era.
Mass kidnappings have become commonplace while schools largely remain unsafe, especially in the North.
In four States – Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna, telecommunication services are either partially disconnected or totally disconnected to enable the military to suppress the activities of bandits. President Muhammadu Buhari is still debating whether to declare them terrorists.
For Melaye, the silence from Nigerians on the state of affairs of the country is curious.
Melaye said: “The conspiracy of silence in an outrageously calamitous situation in Nigeria. Are we comfortable with the perilous nature of our country? Prices of Everything is on the increase, insecurity is the new order…yet no question, no agitation. Are we under a spell?)
Dino Melaye is a former senator and member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
In 2015, he defected to All Progressives Congress (APC) but returned to PDP in the buildup to the 2019 elections after months of political struggle with the Kogi State governor.
He was the Chairman of Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, and briefly the Senate Committee Chairman on Aviation.
