Ruth Oginyi
Minister for Works Senator David Umahi said the hardship and hunger facing Nigeria is a cumulative effect of the past administrations of the country.
Therefore President Bola Tinubu should not be expected to fix the problems within 9 months in office.
Umahi who spoke to journalists on Sunday in Uburu Ohaozara local government area of Ebonyi state noted that the southeast zone cannot join the hunger protest going on in some parts of the country because the President is already tackling the problems of the zone.
His words, “The present hunger that everybody is talking about, didn’t start today. It’s a built-up of many factors.
“Before the past administration and present administration, we have been having a build-up of insecurity, we had farmers/herders clashes over many years over a long period.
“At a time, I was the Chairman of the NEC committee on resolving farmers/herders clashes. So, I went through many states especially the Northern States settling the farmers’/herders’ clashes and it yielded fruits.
“That problem dealt a lot of blow to food production. The issue of kidnapping, and the issue of insecurity, prevented farmers from going to their farms because here, we are talking about hunger.
“And so, you 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. 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 dissolve it overnight
“If you check very well, especially in the 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 the Southeast is self-inflicted and that is the issue of unknown but known gunmen.
“So, if we are protesting, are we protesting against who? We are protesting against a President who 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”.
