Following the diverse socio-economic and political challenges plaguing the corporate existence of the nation, the need to extensively discuss in order to proffer plausible solutions to the identified issues served as the focal point of the Nigeria Info Nationwide Round Table Conference for 2022.
The speakers – the Head of News, Nigeria Info (Lagos), Ufuoma Egbamuno; the Programme Manager, Nigeria Info (Abuja), Femi Amele; News Correspondent, Nigeria Info (Abuja), Ayobami XYZ; News Reporter, Nigeria Info (Lagos), Emmanuel Onwuka; and On-Air Personality, Nigeria Info (Port Harcourt), Ifiemi Andrews – noted there is a critical need for Nigerians be actively involved in the 2023 national elections in order to find a lasting solution to the myriad of challenges hindering the overall growth and development of the nation.
It is on this premise that the nationwide broadcast covered diverse issues ranging from the ASUU’s strike, the rising-inflation rates, the 2023 national elections, and the readiness of the emergency-control services in Nigeria.
Commenting on the response rate of the government in handling emergency-related situations, Ufuoma Egbamuno, the Head of News, Nigeria Info (Lagos), noted that the government across both the state and federal levels needs to be more responsive in handling building collapses. This is made evident when he said, “If I were to rate the government’s reaction to building collapses, I would score them three out of ten. This just shows you to an extent what Nigeria has actually become. It further indicates that the problem associated with building collapses is due to the fact that contractors do not get the necessary building approvals. At the same time, government officials also issue approvals without conducting the required background checks.”
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Riding on the backdrop of the issues impeding the nation’s overall growth, Femi Amele, the Programme Manager, Nigeria Info (Abuja), stated that the continuous strikes within the Nigerian-educational sector are constantly demarketing public-tertiary institutions. This could be seen when he said that “the incessant strikes across the nation’s educational ecosystem has automatically demarketed Nigerian-public institutions. As such, parents are either forced to mop up their entire life savings or they are going the extra mile to borrow from credit-service providers in order to send their wards to private institutions or foreign universities. This invariably shows how poorly the Nigerian government handles issues relating to the educational sector.”
Speaking on the impact of the rising-inflation rate across the nation, Wemimo Adewuni, noted that this negative economic trend has a massive effect on the living standards of average Nigerians. This could be seen when she stated that “household items have skyrocketed and it is having a massive impact on the quality of life of Nigerians across all levels. The big challenge, therefore, is that in a few years down the line, we would be having a lot of malnourished children as parents are now economically constrained to provide the essential meals for their children.”
However, in a bid to proffer a lasting solution to the socio-economic challenges facing the country, Ufuoma Egbamuno admonished Nigerians to be actively involved in the 2023 national elections. This could be seen when he said that “Nigerians have an opportunity to effect a change in the socio-economic and political climate of the country next year. As such, I admonish Nigerians to come out en masse to exercise their civil responsibility of electing credible leaders that would deliver on their campaign promises.”
The Nigeria Info Round Table Conference is a social-driven intervention of Nigeria Info that seeks to champion conversations around the peculiar socio-economic and political issues of national concern with the aim of proffering innovative solutions.
