Kaduna gov, JNI, CAN lament rising poverty, insecurity

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, the Secretary General of Jama’atu Nasir Islam, Prof. Khalid Abubakar-Aliyu, as well as the President, the Christian Association of Nigeria, Archbishop Daniel  Okoh, on Thursday lamented increasing hunger and insecurity in the country.

They spoke at the 6th Annual Inter-Faith Peace Conference in partnership with the Kaduna State government in Kaduna.

The confab had as its theme: ‘Tackling Poverty and Insecurity in Nigeria: Our Collective Responsibility.’

The Kaduna governor, while declaring the event open, noted that poverty and insecurity were the biggest challenges facing the country, adding that the challenges remained the major sources of worry for political leaders in the country.

Sani, who chaired the occasion, said, “Addressing the issue of poverty is critical to restoring the people’s faith in our democracy.

“We are still struggling to address developmental challenges, especially in the areas of infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, and security.”

He said it was time for all stakeholders to join hands to tackle insecurity and developmental challenges across the country.

“Research has a key role to play in our search for workable solutions to the seemingly intractable challenges of insecurity. If you know the causes of the problem, you will be able to fashion effective immediate, short-term, and long-term strategies towards addressing it. Our actions have been ad hoc and reactive,” he added.

On his part, the JNI’s scribe noted that Nigeria was passing through a trying period of “hunger and starvation,  abject poverty, insecurity, breakdown of law and order, dwindling morality, diminishing family values, dilapidation of infrastructures, bad governance and monumental corruption.”

According to him, all these are indices of looming problems that result in societal decay and chaos.

Thus, he said something urgent must be done by those in whose hands God had entrusted the leadership of the country.

“By adhering to these principles and working together in a spirit of cooperation, we can overcome these challenges and build a more prosperous and secure Nigeria for all its citizens,” he said.

The CAN President, who was represented by Bishop Sunday Onuoha, said there was too much hunger in the land and that nobody was safe.

He expressed concern over the looting of warehouses across the country, calling on Nigerian leaders to offload all the warehouses because Nigerians were hungry.

“Not too long ago, a fully-loaded warehouse was taken over by hungry Nigerians in Abuja, and the Federal Government issued a statement and said they were criminals.

“Well, whether they are criminals or whatever you call them, the truth is that they are Nigerians fighting for survival.

“Nigerian leaders should offload all the warehouses wherever they are because Nigerians are hungry and they need food. If we can solve the problem of hunger, we have solved the problem of insecurity.”

Meanwhile, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Kaduna, Garus Gololo, on Wednesday, knocked President Bola Tinubu for  running the country like a “family government.”

Gololo also faulted the Renewed Hope mantra of the party, declaring that there was no hope for the ordinary Nigerians as they were dying of hunger on a daily basis because of the current economic hardship in the land.

The APC chieftain, while speaking in an interview with select journalists in Kaduna, carpeted the President for taking his two sons, Yinka and Seyi to Qatar for an official visit, wondering if the President’s sons were officials of the government.

“Imagine what’s happening; the Federal Government is preaching about cutting costs but the President’s children are part of the official entourage to Qatar when they are not cabinet members. What took them to Qatar?

“This government of President Tinubu is just a family government.”

Gololo also warned the President against turning the APC-led government into a “family government”  questioning budgetary allocation to the office of the First Lady.