Accord Party Calls On Gov’t To Step In As Cash, Fuel Scarcity Bite Harder

By Progress Godfrey, Abuja

Accord party has urged the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to address the money and fuel scarcity, to ameliorate the hardship felt by Nigerians.

The National Chairman of Accord, Mohammed Nalado said this as he addressed journalists during the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

He expressed worries that the “twin scarcity,” if not addressed, could truncate the 2023 general elections slated for February 25 and March 11.

 “As party administrators, we are so much concerned with what is happening in this country today with regards to this monetary issue. We are not saying the policy is bad, but we are not happy with the hardship it has caused Nigerian citizens.

“We believe if it is not addressed properly, it is going to affect so many things including the conduct of the election.

“So, this matter needs to be looked into and we are calling on the federal government and the CBN to step in to make money available for people to withdraw the money from banks.

“I am calling on the federal government and the CBN to step in and make this money available to people to reduce the hardship”, he stated.

He said the naira redesign policy, despite its benefit to the economy, had posed untold hardship on Nigerians and therefore deserved to be looked into urgently.

“No matter the good policy we want to introduce in this country, I am sure we are doing it for the benefit of Nigerians. So any policy that will put Nigerians in difficulty, I think that policy should not be good enough, if it is allowed like this many Nigerians will fall into a problem.

“The problem is not only with money, but also with petroleum. Even if you get it, you don’t have money. On election day, there will definitely be a need for the movement of material from CBN to various election points, if there is no fuel, I doubt if that one will be possible.

“Government should make sure that fuel is available everywhere and make sure that money is available for everyone”, he added.

Nalado however, expressed satisfaction with the preparedness of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He said the political parties had a stakeholders’ meeting with INEC, during which the Commission affirmed that it is ready while raising concern over the scarcity of petrol and cash.

He also thanked the members of the party’s NEC  for their efforts in uniting the party. He urged them to do more, to ensure that someday Accord becomes the number one party in Nigeria.