20 Years After: Okei-Odumakin calls for national rescue in honour of Chima Ubani

The President of the Centre for Change, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, has urged Nigerians to recommit themselves to rescuing the nation from deepening poverty and injustice, as she marked the 20th anniversary of the death of activist Comrade Chima Ubani.

Ubani, a labour and civil society leader, died in 2005 while leading a protest against a hike in fuel prices from N50 to N65 per litre. Two decades later, Okei-Odumakin lamented that the conditions Ubani fought against had worsened significantly.

“The 20th anniversary of the demise of Comrade Chima Ubani once again provides an opportunity for our society to reflect on the ideals he lived and died for,” she said. “It is noteworthy that since Nigeria degenerated to become the poverty capital of the world under the Buhari administration, our nation today is far worse than Chima left it.”

She drew stark comparisons between the economic situation in 2005 and 2025, pointing out that fuel prices have skyrocketed from N65 per litre to nearly N1,000, while the exchange rate has collapsed from N132 to about N1,500 to the dollar.

“The ugly implications of this outlandish jump in the price of petrol and the collapse of our national currency is all too obvious in the lives of ordinary citizens today,” she stated.

Okei-Odumakin highlighted the rising cost of food, noting that a 50kg bag of rice, which sold for N5,400 in 2005, now costs around N70,000. Despite this inflation, she observed that workers’ wages remain grossly inadequate, with the minimum wage increasing only from N5,500 in 2005 to N70,000 today.

“An overwhelming number of our people have become pauperized. Unemployment has escalated to an all-time high, and crime, banditry and terrorism have become the vocation of many of our youths,” she warned.

While condemning the ruling elite for “grabbing more and more of our common patrimony,” Okei-Odumakin stressed that Nigerians must not lose sight of Ubani’s vision.

“It is therefore clear that the present generation of our compatriots have an urgent assignment on our hands, and that assignment is how we can rescue our nation,” she declared.