An Aspirant in the forthcoming local government election in Ebonyi State, Chief Okey Mgbada yesterday said that over 25 percent of street hawkers, house-helps and those doing menial jobs in Abuja, Lagos and other major cities of Nigeria are indigenes of Ebonyi State.
Chief Mgbada who expressed concern over the development maintained that many of the street hawkers have lost their lives in the hands of hit-and-run drivers and called for concerted efforts by local government administrators to address the ugly situation.
The APC chieftain said, “Most of the problems the local government faces is lack of reachability to the downtrodden. The elected officers live far away from the people they govern; they don’t know the plight of the people.
“They don’t know if there is pipe borne water, light, healthcare service and good schools. Once a young boy or girl is 10, he or she runs to Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and other cities and start hawking along the express roads endangering their lives.
“It is disheartening that we have lots of resources that can go round; most times we hear of billions of money being released but it does not translate to the people’s good life. We don’t have schools, no good healthcare systems, cost of things have skyrocketed; how do the common man survive?
“These are the things that push the younger ones into ‘get-reach-quick syndrome.’ It pushes our people to become servants in other states. 25 percent of the people that stand on the road hawking in Lagos, Anambra and other states are children from Ebonyi that are supposed to be in school. This has given us a bad name.”
