The Campaign for Equal Rights and Opportunities for All Nigerians (CERON) has called on the federal government to abandon plans to acquire new aircraft for the Presidency amid the severe economic hardship in the country.
In a weekend statement from Makurdi, CERON Secretary Francis Odiir stated that considering the purchase of presidential aircraft at a time when Nigerians are experiencing extreme poverty is outrageous.
CERON criticized lawmakers advocating for the new aircraft purchase, accusing them of showing blatant insensitivity to the struggles of the Nigerian populace.
The statement read, “It is clearly unacceptable that those in the vanguard of agitation for the purchase of the aircrafts are lawmakers who should be closer to the suffering people of Nigeria but it is becoming clearer that there is now a disconnect and they are not aware that Nigerians can no longer feed.
“How important is the purchase of aircrafts for the Presidency compared to what Nigerians are currently passing through at the moment and the urgent need to tackle the worst economic crisis we are witnessing in the country in recent time.
“It is in fact the height of insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians for this government to contemplate the purchase of aircrafts without addressing the economic crisis induced by the removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the Naira.
“The populace are already hungry and angry we must be precautions of the decisions we make or actions we take in order not to exacerbate the anger in the land.
“The plan to purchase new aircrafts should be shelved for now. Our leaders should concentrate on getting the country out of the present economic downturn so that Nigerians can breath well and live.
“The purchase of aircraft cannot be prioritised above the wellbeing of Nigerian. There are airplanes in the presidential fleet for the President and his Vice.
“And we know that many countries of the world do not keep fleets of aircrafts for their leaders. In fact we have on record that many leaders across the globe charter aircrafts if need be or fly first class. In a time of economic downturn our leaders should not take decisions that would create an impression that they do not care about the suffering of the people.”