The Minister for Works, Senator David Umahi has attributed the economic hardship and hunger currently being witnessed in the country to insecurity and clashes between farmers and herders from the past.
Sen. Umahi stated this in an interaction session with journalists in his Uburu Country home in Ebonyi State.
He said the hardship and its associated hunger is a buildup of the insecurity and clashes between farmers and herders which the present administration of President Bola Tinubu is addressing.
“The present hunger that everybody is talking about, didn’t start today. It’s a buildup to a number of factors. Before the past administration and present administration, we have been having a buildup of insecurity, we had farmers/herders clashes over a number of years at a long period of time.
“At a time, I was the Chairman of NEC committee on resolving farmers/herders clashes. So, I went through a number of states especially the Northern states settling the farmers/herders clashes and it yielded a number of fruits.
“That problem dealt a lot of blow to food production. The issue of kidnapping, the issue of insecurity, prevented farmers from going to their farms because here, we are talking about hunger,” the minister said.
He maintained that it is an impossibility for the present administration to solve the problem of insecurity within a space of 9 months and called on Nigerians to be patient with the present government.
“You don’t expect the administration of President Tinubu to fix all those things within nine months, it’s not possible. So, it’s a cumulative effect of the past, like I have mentioned.
“We should be asking ourselves, how do we solve these problems and that’s what the President has started doing. When something has gotten to climax, you don’t expect to solve it over night.
“If you check very well especially in South East, you will know that we no longer have incessant farmers/herders clashes. So, why should we join the protest when the President has solved our major problem?.
“The problem now we have in South East is self-inflicted and that is the issue of unknown but known gunmen. So, if we are protesting, are we protesting against?.
“The South East can’t protest against a President that has solved herders/farmers clashes. If you remove the issue of unknown gunmen, South East will be completely safe and farmers can work. So, we can’t go and join anybody to protest,” Umahi added.
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