Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, says Nigerian must help Buhari in order to save the country.
He said this in a series of posts via his official Twitter account on Sunday.
The former vice-president expressed displeasure at the recent report by Bloomberg which said Nigeria is to emerge as the nation with the highest rate of unemployment at over 33%.
According to him, the high rate of unemployment is due to abandonment of the people-centered leadership, free trade and deregulatory policies of the Obasanjo years.
He also attributed the level of insecurity in the country to the high rate of unemployment.
“What this government must realise is that the unprecedented insecurity Nigeria is facing is the result of youth unemployment,” he said.
“Idleness is the worst feature of unemployment because it channels the energy of our youth away from production, and towards destruction, and that is why Nigeria is now the third most terrorised nation on Earth.
Atiku asked the government to focus on getting 13.5 million out-of-school children into school and the engagement of youths in work programmes as a means to reduce the unemployment rate.
The former president also suggested three ways to encourage capital inflow and foreign direct investment.
“First, Nigeria must move towards a single exchange rate to be determined by market forces. Secondly, the federal and state governments must reduce taxes, to make Nigeria more business friendly. And finally, financial and monetary institutions, like the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, must be free from the type of political influence that resulted in the prohibition of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies,” he said.
He said since the government lacks the ability to address challenges, Nigerians must help the government in order to save themselves.
“We are at a precipice as a nation and the truth is that all stakeholders and elder statesmen have to speak up on time, while there is still a Nigeria to save,” he said.
“This government obviously lacks the capacity to address our current challenges, and we must help them, not because of the government, but because of our people.
“In a situation where we are simultaneously the world headquarters for extreme poverty, the world capital for out of school children, and the nation with the highest unemployment rate on Earth, there is a very real and present danger that we might slip into the failed states index – God forbid!”