A veteran journalist and former Senior Adviser on Media and Publicity to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Reuben Abati, on Monday, said ex-President Muhammadu Buhari will be in his Daura village in Katsina State laughing at the current situation of the country.

Abati said it was a gross embarrassment in terms of economic management to people from the Southwest who, he said, claim to be better at managing the economy.

Abati, the lead anchor in the popular Arise TV programme, Morning Show, made the assertion on Monday.

He stated that the immediate future of Nigerians now hangs in the balance, stressing that the pain is much and has gone beyond hunger.

Abati said: “Nigerians have now been thrown into energy poverty. We now find ourselves unfortunately in a situation whereby President Muhammadu Buhari, now in his Daura village in Katsina, will be laughing.

“He will say, ‘okay. I think this Yoruba people they say they know the economy. Okay, the economy is now in their hands. They have, they have taken it down. They have mismanaged it’.

So this is what we are facing. It’s a gross embarrassment in terms of economic management to people who come from the Southwest, who say that, you know, ‘people from the Southwest are better at managing the economy’. We have not seen that evidence.

“Schools have increased school fees. Do you know that a stick of Suya is now N1850? We can’t even eat Suya again. All within a space of one or two weeks. Nigerians are growing tired. look at Lagos that is supposed to be the business capital of Nigeria, it is a ghost town.

“How many vehicles do you see on the road now? People are rationalizing their lifestyle. Lifestyle is affected, families are affected.

You know husbands now are beginning to go to the market to make sure that madams do not top up ‘chop’ money in the family because of what has been imposed.

“A liter of fuel is going up to about N1200 to N1250 in some places. They are asking us to make sacrifices and they are not making sacrifices.

“In a country where there is insecurity. And on top of it all, the Dangote Refinery and the NNPCL over the weekend, there is this back and forth about the pricing.

So in the midst of all this confusion we are in a quadrum. Our immediate future hangs in the balance. And the pain is much. It has gone beyond hunger.

“Life is very difficult. And those who claim, who promised that there will be renewed hope, they should not allow that hope to disappear completely.

“Some people have served notice that they will go on strike. They will go out to the street on October 1 driven by the pain of hunger and the reality of anger. The problem is preventable.”