Satguru Maharaji ji, the founder of One Love Family sect, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute a Price Control Board in order to ameliorate the impact of the current economic recession on ordinary Nigerians.
He also told newsmen in Ibadan on Sunday that a price control mechanism would strengthen the Naira.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the sect leader spoke at a news conference which was part of activities to mark his 69th birthday.
“ We need to protect the value of our naira through the banning of some luxury goods that are not necessarily vital to people’s lives.
“ The protection now is very important.
“Our government should reduce the price of cement to N300 to enable the country build homes for its people and if need be, government should empower Nigerians to import cement to bring prices down.
“The Nigeria Airways should be revived with the old buildings and structures rehabilitated in order for the country to compete with small nations which have notable airlines like Ethiopia, Cameroun and Kenya , ” the sect leader said.
He also called for a reduction in airfares for local travels within the country to a flat rate of N15,000 .
Maharaji ji argued that state governments should be allowed to acquire planes in partnership with stakeholders as well as oil blocks.
He accused Nigerian banks of operating as traders instead of being “ beacons of enterprise, reconstruction, innovation and productive activities.’’
“It will be necessary to nationalise some of them instead of watching our generation suffer in the hands of European imperialism, ” he said.
He, however, expressed gratitude to the president on the steps taken so far at “ retrieving ’’ the Ajaokuta Steel Company, saying the organisation was capable of promoting meaningful industrial progress.
The sect leader called on government to compel all oil companies to release two percent of their gross profits for research in universities
“The local refineries built by militants should not be destroyed but improved upon since they are inventions made out of necessity.
”There should be no more bombing of militants and the people in the oil rich area to avoid total collapse of law and order,’’ he said.
He further called for a “ Pressmen Foundation’’ to cater for journalists wrongly sacked in the course of performing their professional duties.