A Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Ishaku Abbo (Cliff) has suggested 19 ways that the country can come out of the woods of fuel crisis and insecurity ravaging the country.
Cliff said the points he gave are solution-based ways that are cognitive in tackling the ugly and protracted problems that seem insurmountable.
Abbo on his Facebook official page said the future of Nigeria and the challenge of ending insecurity and petroleum products imports into the country will be solved with at least 8 refineries in 4 years.
He said that will be the main thing that will end the evil called fuel subsidy that has been a perennial problem.
The Adamawa Senator representing the North Senatorial District while calling on the political class to Jump out of their party’s toga and fight for Nigeria gave an expose on how the country will regain its lost glory.
Cliff specifically calls the attention of all Presidential and Governorship aspirants to understand the root cause of Nigeria’s problems today.
According to him as of 29/03/2022, the exchange rates stand at:£1 = ₦783, $1 = ₦560, and €1 = ₦670, and 42 years ago, precisely on 01/03/1980, the exchange rate was $1 = 0.78k.
The Senator said Nigerians were far more productive in 1980 than they are today.
He Martialed out 19 key reasons In 1980 why economic growth was booming:
1. We were a net exporter of refined petroleum products. Today we import all our refined petroleum products.
2. We rode in locally assembled cars, buses, and trucks. Peugeot cars in Kaduna and Volkswagen cars in Lagos.
3. Leyland produced trucks/buses in Ibadan and NAMCO in Enugu also produced buses and trucks.
4. Steyr in Bauchi produced our Agricultural tractors. And it was not just Assembly, we were producing many of the components:
5. Vono products in Lagos produced the vehicle seats.
6. Exide in Ibadan produced the batteries, not just for Nigeria but for entire West Africa.
7. IsoGlass and TSG in Ibadan produced the windshields.
8. Ferodo in Ibadan produced the brake pads and discs
9. Dunlop produced Tyres in Lagos and Michelin Tyres were produced in Port Harcourt. And I mean tires produced from rubber plantations located in Ogun, Bendel, and Rivers State.
10. We were listening to the radio and watching television sets assembled in Ibadan by Sanyo.
11. We were using refrigerators, freezers, and Airconditioners produced by Thermocool and Debo.
12. We were putting on clothes produced from the UNTL Textile Mills in Kaduna and Chellarams in Lagos. They were Not from imported cotton but cotton grown in Nigeria.
13. Our water was running through pipes produced by Kwalipipe in Kano and Duraplast in Lagos.
14. Our toilets were fitted with WC produced in Kano and Abeokuta.
15 We were cooking with LPG gas stored inside gas cylinders produced at the NGC factory in Ibadan.
16. Our electricity was flowing through cables produced by the Nigerian Wire and Cable, Ibadan; NOCACO in Kaduna, and Kablemetal in Lagos and Port Harcourt.
17. We had Bata and Lennards Stores producing the shoes we were putting on. The shoes were not from imported leather but locally tanned leather in Kaduna.
18. We were mainly flying our Airways, (the Nigeria Airways), to most places in the world. Nigeria Airways was the biggest in Africa at the time.
19. Most of the foods we ate were grown or produced in Nigeria.
The Youngest Senator in the Nigerian red chambers contains to say that:
“We were producing all of the above and many more in 1980. Today, we import almost everything. Isn’t that alarming?
“There lies the source of the terrible exchange rate we are experiencing today and everyone reading this has a critical role to play in reversing this very ugly trend.
“We have been talking about these problems and more for ages. It is not enough for us to complain about the exchange rate or point out what others are not doing or are failing to do.” Abbo said
He asked critical questions about What the country is producing now, and the role Leaders and Politicians of today are playing to take Nigeria back to its glory days.
“We are forever shying away from responsibility whereas it is a stack reality and if we don’t deal with it, it won’t go away. It will get worse.
“To our dear Politician, if you can’t reset Nigeria to what it was at least back in 1980 then please stay in your house and don’t waste our time. Enough is enough.” Cliff added
