From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Vice chairman of the Association of Contributory Retirees (ACR) in Delta State, Mr. Anthony Osanekwu has blamed politicians for the myriad of challenges facing the country after 62 of independence.
Osanekwu said politicians in Nigeria were power drunk, adding that their actions have plunged the country in its current state of affairs.
In a brief chat with newsmen in Asaba, Osanekwu said only leaders with fear of God and determination to rebuild the country can salvage what the politicians have damaged over the years.
According to him, politicians abused the power handed over to them at independence in 1960, and that the military came in 1966 to put the country back on track.
“Unfortunately, along the line, the military also derailed, they were also drunk with power and this led to coups and counter coups.
“They neglected infrastructural development, whereas, the population kept increasing. That is where the problem of Nigeria escalated.
“When the military handed over power to democratically elected government in 1979, we thought that the politicians had learnt their lesson but their action showed that they learnt nothing.
“So, the military came back in 1984 to continue where they stopped. What transpired between then and 1999 when they handed over to politicians, is now history,” he said.
Osanekwu said the present day politicians were worse than politicians and heroes of the yesteryears, who fought for the country’s independence.
“Today, our legislators earn over N13 million monthly in a country where they pegged minimum wage for workers at N30,000 per month, this is absurd.
“A country were the four refineries are not working but its workers have been earning salaries in the past 10 years, is unthinkable.
“It is more painful that in this country, a single man can steal billions of naira and nothing is done. This is a serious affair,” Osanekwu lamented.
He berated governors for taking so much as as security vote annually, which is usually unaccounted for.
“A country where governors and their deputies go with their salaries for life after eight years, whereas they can’t pay the retirement benefits of workers who worked for 35 years. This is evil.
“Our politicians have to show that they are serious if this country must survive,” Osanekwu said.