Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) has warned of imminent civil war in the country if the trends of ethnic disunity and disintegration are not arrested.
It also frowned on the wanton level of corruption and the feverish attempt to render prostrate labour and other democratic groups.
In its communiqué after its recent meeting held in Benin City, Edo State, the SPN said: “The country is rife with ethnic disunity, groupings and Babel of geo-political and religious voices and violence, which are snowballing toward civil war and national disintegration” arguing that the “Internal cracks and forces are being supported by imperialists who have selfish interest and who flourish in the retrogression of Nigeria”.
Recalling the ugly effects of the bitter civil war of 1967 – 1970, the party, in the statement signed by Professor Idowu Awopetu, chairman, publicity committee, said: “WAR IS UGLY! EVIL! When another war erupts, Boko Haram, Niger-Delta militancy and other ethnic militarism will become a child’s play. So, those who are beating the drums of war by perpetrating ethno-religious TERRORISM should bear this in mind and STOP without conditions because violence is not a monopoly of any class”.
“Another deep crisis besetting Nigeria is economic. Nigeria does not produce ANYTHING! No factories! No serious agriculture investments are taking place anywhere in the country! Government simply depends on oil from the Niger-Delta whose prices they manipulate in the objectionable name and process of ‘fuel subsidy removal’. In spite of the general outrage against it, the ruling class is still hell-bent on pursuing the anti-people policy of fuel price increase.
“Nigerian educational system produces Nigerians who are hardly useful to Nigeria. The nature and content of the knowledge and curricula being transmitted are questionable. Our universities are poorly rated in the world just as our graduates are looked down upon in both national and international labour markets. Exemplary teachers and lecturers have become endangered species, scarcely found in schools these days. Meanwhile, beneficiaries of the unfair system take their children and wards to alien schools in foreign countries with more stable educational system to the detriment of Nigeria”
While decrying the spate of corruption in the country and the strident attempt to emasculate labour and other democratic groups, the SPN posited that it “is well-equipped to tackle these socio-political and economic scourges ravaging Nigeria” contending that “the structure, intellectual and human resources of SPN as patterned at present have the moral strength and acumen to attain a peaceful nation and an egalitarian society”.
