All Progressives Congress, APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has urged Nigerian democracy partisans not to lose hope upon present economic challenges, saying that the quest for democracy is a battle and not a banquet. In his Democracy Day message to the nation, Tinubu who affirmed that Nigeria is just about out of the woods nevertheless urged the authorities to choose to fight recession instead of inflation in the face of the stagflation that had confronted the country.
Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, said that fighting recession would help to create jobs, boost infrastructure and raise economic morale before subsequently tackling the inflation.
Noting the difficulties currently facing the nation, Tinubu while affirming that there was no better option to stick with than democracy said: “Remember, the quest for democracy is a battle not a banquet. We must stick with it and not give up hope, just when fairness and justice have finally gotten the upper hand. We must persevere not just until the tide of battle seems to have turned in our favour, but until the opponents of democracy have been decisively and thorough bested.
“Thus, we do not relent in defending democracy just as we should not relent in expecting the benefits inherent in democratic good governance. This means we must not sit back and merely let government contest with those who would again turn government against the general welfare. All of us must join the fray because the fray is about us when we live in a manner than fulfils our national purpose.
On challenges he proffered his counsel: “There is a problem that cuts all areas equally. If we are not careful, it will afflict us a long time to come. In a cold, swift stroke, the decline in oil prices has turned into a mockery the model upon which we had for so long based our political economy. We either must waste away or construct a new model.
“Our economy should diversify by expanding our infrastructure network, bolstering agricultural and farm incomes, as well as filliping industry and manufacturing to provide jobs for a rapidly expanding urban work force.”