.As group wants Tinubu to sack terrorists from farmlands using tech
.Don’t sabotage Tinubu’s effort in fixing economy, APC chieftain urges governors
Some hungry residents on Sunday invaded a warehouse to loot foodstuffs belonging to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
The warehouse, located in Karimo, Phase 3 Region of the FCT, Abuja, was raided in the early morning.
According to a report, the residents carted away foodstuffs and other items.
Some residents, who spoke said youths in their number broke into the warehouse located around Tasha area of the community around 7 am, looting bags of maize and grains.
A resident, Jaafar Aminu, said the looting continued unhindered till 9 am.
He noted some residents as well as persons from neighboring Jiwa and Karmo town trooped towards the site with the intention of partaking in the looting.
He added the situation had caused a gridlock on Gwagwa-Karmo road, that leads to Dei-Dei and Jabi axis, respectively.
Aminu disclosed that he left the location with bruises.
Another resident, Christopher Agbo, said the looters did not spare even protectors used to barricade the site as they picked anything deemed useful from the warehouse.
Recall that the warehouse was also looted during the Covid-19 lock down in 2020. Grain of bags as well as pumping machines meant for intervention were stolen from the site by the looters.
After raiding the store, the rampaging youths headed towards Idu Industrial Estate, an area that hosts warehouses owned by individuals and also government.
There was no presence of security operatives to check the attacks at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, the police in Abuja have been deployed to the area to disperse the looters.
The spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, Josephine Adeh, confirmed the incident.
Adeh, however, added that the situation had been brought under control. “The situation is now under control,” she said.
.As group wants Tinubu to sack terrorists from farmlands using tech
However, the Southern Nigerian People’s Mandate (SNPM), a coalition of civil societies, wants President Bola Tinubu to use technology to flush out terrorists occupying extensive farmlands across the country.
The President of SNPM, Elder Augustine Chukwudum, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Enugu that the pervasive hunger in the country was due to the inability of farmers to access their farmlands within their communities.
Chukwudum noted that more than 50 per cent of farmers in the northern part of the country which produces more than 85 per cent of the food consumed in Nigeria and neighbouring countries cannot go to their farms anymore because of terrorists.
He said that within few years, terrorists in various guise had succeeded in chasing away farmers from farmlands in the country, especially in the north and southern states bordering the northern states.
The SNPM boss noted that terrorists had kidnapped farmers for ransom, killed some while those who remain are paying various forms of food stuff taxes to terrorists in other to access their farmlands.
According to him, the issue of hunger in the country is something that if not addressed will lead to disaster that the country can never recover from, as any country that neglects agriculture ends up in ruins.
He said: “President Bola Tinubu must involve technology such as drones to flush out these terrorists immediately to end insecurity in the country and enable our farmers to return peacefully to their farmlands.
“The Federal and State Governments must work with traditional rulers at the community levels to beef up community security and know when foreign intruders come in, especially from other African countries.
Chukwudum also urged the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to deploy measures to strengthen the naira, which would reduce the cost of agricultural inputs and equipment as well as their transportation.
He said: “There should be a flexible tractors’ purchase or hiring scheme for farmers to enable them operate mechanised farming and large-scale cultivation and harvesting.
“Nigeria, as a blessed country, has excess arable land for farming and we have hard-working farmers who can produce excess food at affordable prices, while the remaining will be processed for export thereby creating more jobs and money to the people.”
.Don’t sabotage Tinubu’s effort in fixing economy, APC chieftain urges governors
Meanwhile, a Chieftain of the All-Progressives Congress, APC, in Osun State, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has enjoined state governors and senior civil servants to give their maximum support to President Bola Tinubu, in his efforts to fix Nigeria’s economy.
The former lawmaker emphasized that the governors must prudently utilize their monthly allocation for poverty reduction in their respective states in order to assist the president’s different economic recovery efforts.
Speaking with newsmen in Osogbo, on Sunday, Oyintiloye revealed that what the state governors are earning from the federal allocation since the removal of the fuel subsidy is capable of putting smiles on the faces of the people, if judiciously used.
Oyintiloye said, “This is the time for state governors, irrespective of political affiliations to join the president in fixing the economy by attending to the welfare of the people.
“What the president is doing at the centre to fix the economy will only be meaningful to the people, if the state governors can lend a helping hands.
“What the governors are currently collecting as monthly allocation is more than in enough to lift the people out of poverty in relation to what the president is doing.
“While the masses are shouting the name of the president at every slight discomfort, they should also hold their governors accountable, asking them what they are doing with the improved monthly allocation.
“To set the record straight, the governors have to come out and tell people of their states the amount they have collected since June last year and how they have administered the funds.
“In the reckoning of most Nigerians now, the governors are seen as part of those sabotaging efforts of the president to lessen effects of the removal of fuel subsidy on then people.
Oyintiloye added it’s time for the senior civil servants and the permanent secretaries to be on the same page with the president towards improving the lives of Nigerians by acting with dispatch on matters that affects the welfare of citizens.
He added ” We are in a very critical situation in which unnecessary bureaucracy which can hinder the efforts of the president be suspended.
“Any act of sabotage in whatever form in the civil service should be rooted out for the sake of the benefit of the masses.”
Oyintiloye also commended the president on his directive on a monthly briefing by the Head of Service and submission of key performance indicator reports for his review, adding that the move will improve service delivery and prompt attendance to issues that would impact the the welfare of the people and the economy.
He however, urged the people to be patient with the President, noting that with different interventions the president is implementing, the nation will soon reach the pinnacle of desired greatness.
