The Labour Party has blamed President Bola Tinubu and his economic policies for the stampedes that happened in some parts of Nigeria last week.
More than 60 persons including children and women have been confirmed dead when they struggled for Christmas palliatives. Even before the event started in Ibadan, people had been pushing one another, jumping over the fence or throwing their children to enter the venue.
The political party released a statement on Monday through the national secretary, Alhaji Umar Ibrahim Farouk to condemn the administration.
The party said, “As reported, about 40 children died during a stampede at a carnival in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, a few days ago. Also, 20 residents of Okija community in Anambra State lost their lives in a similar stampede. On the same day, more than 10 people died following a stampede in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.”
“All these unfortunate incidents occurred in similar circumstances. While one happened when one of the Catholic churches in the FCT was distributing food items to vulnerable persons, the Okija, Anambra state incident happened during a palliative distribution by a notable philanthropist.
“So also, the Ibadan, Oyo state was an event funded by a popular royalty. The bottomline is that there is hunger in the land.
“According to the World Bank, in 2023, the poverty rate in Nigeria was estimated to be 38.9%, with 87 million Nigerians living below the poverty line.
“But presently, the poverty rate in Nigeria is estimated to be 40.7%. This made Nigeria the second-largest poor population in the world, after India.”
Farouk further said, “It is only poverty that made some Nigeria to go scooping fuel from accident scenes resulting in inferno which brought about hundreds of casualties. These happened on several occasions in the last one year.
“The economic reforms of the Tinubu administration have caused untold hardship to Nigerians. Hunger is turning into an epidemic and not many people can survive this situation.”
He said, “The Labour Party prior to the 2023 general elections had warned that unless we change our consumption policies to a productive policy, the economy will be in serious jeopardy.
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