APC Governors’ Forum DG Slams Buhari On Insecurity, Says Situation No Longer Acceptable

The Director-General of the All Progressives Governors Forum, Dr. Salihu Lukman has told President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently find a solution to the rising spate of insecurity and poverty in the country.

Lukman in his submission said poverty is feeding insecurity in the country and the government must find practical ways to deal with the issues.

The Director-General of the Progressives Governors Forum in a paper titled ‘Poverty and Existential Problems of Nigeria’, which he presented in Abuja, on Monday said what the country needs is beyond blame games and partisan politics but workable solutions to lift Nigeria out of the current mess.

He, therefore, charged the leadership of the APC to also rise above partisanship comments and activities by providing leadership that will move Nigerians out of poverty.

He said, “Being members of APC with all the commitment to contribute to the success of the party, we need to tell ourselves the hard truth, which is that an important determinant of return to peaceful coexistence and moving Nigeria forward under the leadership of our party is dependent on the capacity of our governments to lift Nigerians out of poverty.

“Therefore, we need to engage the disturbing issue of high levels of poverty in Nigeria beyond the narrow prism of politics.”

The PGF DG further said, “In our case in Nigeria, beyond our self-inflicted ethnic and religious conflicts, poverty is also at the root of all the kidnappings, abductions and banditry.

“The problem of high incidence of poverty in Nigeria has been our reality for decades, which no Nigerian can deny.

“Year after year, both governmental and non-governmental, including multilateral, institutions continue to remind us of the ugly reality of our high incidence of poverty.

“Just recently, the World Bank released its annual report on Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020: Reversal of Fortune.

“The report indicated that 2,969,158 Nigerians are living in extreme poverty and a total of 94,470,535 million are below the poverty line of $1.90 or about N700 per day.

“It also highlighted sadly that Nigeria has the largest population of poor people, accounting for 20 per cent of people living in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, with a further projection that the impact of Covid-19 pandemic was on the economy will increase the number of people living below the poverty line to more than 100 million by 2022.”

Meanwhile, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello-led government of Niger State has admonished parents to allow their children to go to school and not give in for fear of bandits.

Naija News understands that Niger has witnessed a series of attacks by bandits in recent times, one of which involved the abduction of students from the Government Science College, Kagara.

Reacting to the disturbing developments, the state government admonished parents not to allow the abduction of students in the state to discourage them from sending their wards to school.

Addressing the parents while handing over the released students who were abducted from Government Science College, Kagara to their relatives in Minna, the State Commissioner of Education, Hajiya Hanatu Jibrin Salihu said the government has promised to secure all its schools from all criminal elements to allow students and pupils to pursue their education.