The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure, has expressed sadness that most Nigerians will be celebrating this year’s Christmas on empty stomachs due to bad leadership.
On Sunday, he addressed this in his Christmas message to Nigerians.
Abure, however, called on Nigerians to let the lessons learn from the birth of Jesus Christ guide our lives individually and collectively in other to make the world a beautiful place to live.
The LP National Chairman said, “Nigeria is an example of a nation which God created and ensured that abundance of deposits of resources are huge enough to make us a giant nation.
“Nigeria must have been created as a perfect example of ‘heaven on earth’ but leadership has remain the bane and today, in spite of the abundance of resources, Nigeria is ranked as one of the poorest nations in the world.
“Today, most Nigerians would be celebrating the Christmas in empty stomach due to bad leadership.
“A few days ago, the APC led government with fanfare and heart-thumbing, came up with a policy that guarantees reduction by half, transportation for holiday markers.
“And I sometimes query the level of advise this government gets. In a nation of over two hundred million persons, the government employed the services of only 5 transport company, in addition to the rail services which completely excluded a particular Christian dominated zone.
“The beneficiaries of this social scheme will be less that 0.05 percent of Nigerians.
“The question has always been, what happens after the yuletide when the scheme would have cease to function. Would government also subsidize transport system in Nigeria as it boasted months ago?
“Schools will be opening in early January, how do the poverty stricken Nigerian grapple with that chaos waiting to happen?
“Did it ever occur to this government that a good percentage of those Nigerians travelling may never return to their base due to economic strangulation perpetuated by this government as one of its economic policies?”
He further said, “Christmas is known as the day of remembrance for the birth of Jesus Christ but beyond that significance, it is the remembrance of the day Heaven came down to the earth for the sake of redemption of mankind. His coming was to bring joy to the world by reconciling humanity with divinity.
“He came to make the world a better place but today that purpose is being defeated by the evil actions of men.
“The destiny of nations is being changed by men in the position of authority and the will of God is being continuously subverted by power hijackers.
“In all these uncertainty facing millions of Nigeria, I will still wish Nigerians a happy celebration and also plead with them to keep fate alive because a new Nigeria is not just possible but is already on the horizon.”