A socialist movement under the auspices of the Campaign for Socialist Transformation of Nigeria (CAST-Nigeria) has urged the Federal Government to initiate other economic policies to alleviate the hardships currently experienced by citizens.

A member of the CAST-Nigeria Secretariat Collective, Prof. Omotoye Olorode, made the call at a two-day conference in Abuja organised by the group.

The conference had the theme “Building resistance to renewed hardship and building the movement for socialist transformation.”

Mr Olorode recalled how he and other young people were deeply interested in Nigeria’s future and gave everything to ensure the country moved forward.

“This was based on the inspiration we derived from the founders of the country, who sacrificially and patriotically fought for independence,” he said.

Mr Olorode, a retired professor from the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State, called for a country where young people would not abandon their country and families to live in somebody else’s country.

He said, “The socialist transformation is our vision of a new society, which is a new Nigeria. We are great inheritors of the struggle led by those who fought for the independence of Nigeria. What we are saying is that Nigerians need to take ownership and be in control of the resources of their country and create a society where working people are equal and where both rural and urban centres enjoy the same infrastructure. A country owned by the people and not by a few people who organise elections once in a while without a change.”

According to him, Nigerians are to realise they own the country, and CAST-Nigeria is seriously interacting with Nigerians to realise themselves and cause a change in society.

Decrying the arbitrary hike in school fees and the proposed autonomy for universities, Mr Olorode called on the government to look into the matter.

He added, “The socialist transformation movement is going to support Nigerians to see ways of tackling this issue. We want the people to have an alternative political party. In our struggle, leaders will arise based on our struggle, not this traders’ thing that rich people just come together and say, let us have a party, and when it breaks down, they go and form another party.”

On his part, a member of the CAST-Nigeria Secretariat Collective, Jaye Gaskia, said that the essence of the two-day conference was to build on the outcome of the 2023 general elections.

“There is no amount of reform that is going to transform the conditions of the Nigerian people if it continues to be based on neo-liberal concepts and agendas, market forces and the free market,” he said.

He said that, as much as privatisation was good, the resources of the public sector should not be diverted to aid the private sector.

Mr Gaskia noted, “As long as those things continue, we are not going to be able to get out of the problem we are in.” 

(NAN)