TheCable

Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, says the federal government must address “the acute hardship” that Nigerians are facing.

In his New Year’s message, the former vice-president described 2023 “as a challenging year”, adding that the “situation of life for Nigerians keeps getting direr”.

He said the government must “desist from the subsisting behaviour of groping in the dark” and show “a clear direction of its policy projections”.

Atiku added that the government should also address the rising cost of living and the “degenerating state of our national and community security” with “a well-thought vision of national planning”.

“Certainly, many families and businesses already know the intensity of the trying times that we are currently going through – though we could have taken a completely different pathway, had the government been smarter with their policy prescriptions,” the message reads.

“The rising cost of food items, goods and services, the malfunction in our national economy and the degenerating state of our national and community security are all existential challenges that we have to face squarely in the New Year.

“While many companies have closed their operations in Nigeria and moved their enterprise elsewhere with clearer policies and visions, the situation of life for Nigerians keeps getting direr.

“To walk back from these throes of adversities will require a well-thought vision of National Planning that will deliberately make the common people of Nigeria the centrepiece of our development.

“The Year 2024 is still new on its canvas; and so, there is ample time for the current government to champion a pathway to addressing the acute hardship that Nigerians are going through.

“The government must show a clear direction of its policy projections and desist from the subsisting behaviour of groping in the dark.

“While I congratulate all Nigerians for witnessing this New Year, I also wish to call on everyone to double our efforts to put our respective families and businesses in good shape.”