The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), a faith-based non-governmental organization, has urged Nigerians to exercise patience and caution in the midst of the current economic challenges.
In a press statement issued on Friday, February 16, 2024, Professor Ishaq Akintola, the Executive Director of MURIC, emphasized that major democracies like the United Kingdom and Japan are also grappling with worse economic declines.
MURIC pointed out that Nigeria is not immune to the bandwagon effect of a distressed global economy and emphasized the need for citizens to recognize the interconnected nature of the world’s economic dynamics.
The organization also discouraged the tendency to solely blame local leaders for the challenges faced and urged Nigerians to understand the broader international economic landscape.
MURIC encouraged Nigerians to reject undemocratic attempts to change the system and cautioned against destructive actions, such as attacking public property.
It also called on workers’ unions to participate in meaningful discussions with employers, focusing on finding solutions rather than engaging in actions that may escalate tensions.
Part of the statement read:
“Something must be terribly wrong with the world’s economy if great democracies like Britain, France, Canada, and America are facing worse economic decline.
“Nigerians in diaspora have been complaining of tough times and it all began with the COVID-19 lockdown when the world’s economy was totally shut down. Things have not been the same since then.
“Nigerians have two major lessons to learn from this ugly developments. Firstly, Nigeria is merely suffering from the bandwagon effect of a distraught global economy.
“We are not an island. What is happening to the naira and the skyrocketing prices is not isolated. Neither can we blame our leaders for it. It is a natural concomitant of events in a global village. We can only blame globalisation for it.
“Secondly, although there are reports of recession in those countries, their citizens have not resorted to violence. Public properties are not being attacked. Neither are there threats by their military to stage coups because they are sensible enough to know that the military are not trained for politics or management of battered economies.
“The threat of a military coup allegedly issued by the former head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida is therefore in bad taste and it is most unfortunate. We advise Nigerians to ignore him if indeed the report is true.
The military’s past incursion into politics brought Nigeria to where it is today. Characterized by lack of probity, total absence of accountability, disrespect for the rule of law, dehumanisation of the citizenry, tyranny, totalitarian dictatorship, etc, military rule is a hydra-headed monster which Nigerians must avoid at all cost.
“The worst civilian rulers are better than the best military rulers. You can change a civilian president at the polls, but you are permanently at the mercy of a military ruler. Military rule has no timeline whereas a civilian ruler has just four years to prove his mettle or be changed at the polls.
“We therefore urge Nigerians to shun all undemocratic attempts at changing the system. We are aware of incitements to demonstrations and some have actually taken place. We admit that demonstrations are our right to express grievances but we must be wary of hijackers whose evil plans are more luciferous than that of the authors of #EndSARS.
“Nigerians must not listen to those who incite them to destroy public property. Only sadists can look at the hundreds of brand new luxurious buses of the Lagos State Government which were all burnt down and feel a sense of achievement. Those buses were about to be launched for use as public transport by the citizens. We must never allow such madness again.
“In keeping with the avowed motto of MURIC which is ‘Dialogue, No Violence’, we urge Nigerians to engage their leaders at the local, state and federal levels for ways and means of rubber-cushioning the effect of this economic downturn.
“We call on workers’ unions to jaw-jaw with employees of labour without playing to the gallery.”
MURIC urged Nigerians to approach the economic challenges with resilience, patience, and a commitment to peaceful dialogue, avoiding actions that could worsen the situation.
