The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, yesterday, painted a gloomy picture of Nigeria, stating that the country had gone into autopilot with nobody in control.

He also said the insecurities have pervaded the country and that the economy has collapsed with inflation and unemployment spiking to the highest point ever in the country.

Secondus spoke to a select group of reporters, where he also assured the female members of the party that in constituting the federal cabinet, gender parity would be uppermost should the party win the 2023 general election.

According to the PDP chair, “Nigeria is in an auto pilot and deserves rescue from all well-meaning Nigerians especially, the women that constitute over 60 per cent of the voting population.” Further lamenting the growing insecurity in the country, Secondus said, it has gone so bad that schools are now closed in some parts of the northern states due to kidnapping and banditry.

He also lamented the near collapse of the economy, stating that almost all manufacturing companies in Nigeria had relocated to Ghana or neighbouring West African countries due to the collapse of infrastructure and high cost of production.

“Today, in Nigeria, inflation is about 17.4 per cent, official rate and the level of unemployment is about 33 per cent mostly among the youths. Nothing seems to be working. The country is in an auto pilot,” the PDP national chairman lamented.

He, therefore, charged the PDP women and women in general to rise up and rescue the country as everything was in a perilous state.

Secondus urged women in Nigeria to rescue the nation from the grips of corruption and injustice pervading the land, saying, “You should emulate women nationalists like Funmilayo Ransom Kuti and recently Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala”.

Pledging gender parity in constituting a new cabinet, he said, if PDP forms government in 2023, the cabinet would be 50/50 based on competence.

“It is a known fact that whenever and wherever you find a Women in government, there will be no corruption.

According to him, “The 35 per cent is already taken, but we believe that we must drive it to logical conclusion. We are also setting new guidelines that will give youths and women free forms and also give them some form of preference.

“We believe that if PDP form government in 2023, it be 50/50 between men and women, because women have what its needed for national development”, he said.

Speaking, the chairperson of the PDP Women Action Committee, Senator Biodiun Olujimi, described the committee as another agenda setting for other political parties to emulate and should be seen as a challenge factor to all women on all national developmental issues.

“Women are central to democracy. It will give women a sense of belonging and ensure justice and equity in the affairs of the party and national development.”

She also noted that, “It is right to say women are an integral part of any strong and forward-looking party, such as PDP. In fact, the participation of women in the socio-political and cultural affairs is not just a goal, but central to sustainability of the democratic process.

“Statistics tells us that engaging women in leadership processes, increases the gross domestic product of our nation. Empowering women is a very smart political move that political parties will greatly benefit from. And the process starts from arrangements such as this lobby group being inaugurated today.”

•Text (excluding headline): THISDAY.

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