Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has lamented over the state of the nation’s economy, saying that the common man is experiencing hunger which is translating into anger.
Mohammed therefore pledged to urgently do something about it instead of trading blame.
The governor made the statement on Thursday during his opening remarks at the State Executive Council emergency meeting. The Governor lamented the inflation and food insecurity which he said are exacerbating the hardship.
He said “I call this meeting because it’s almost an emergency because there is hunger and anger and the common man does not differentiate between the federal and the state governments’ responsibilities. It is not easy to just pass the buck and say it is the federal government’s responsibility – it is all our responsibility.
“I don’t normally believe in blame games. As a state we should try to be the highland of good governance in doing things better.
“I think there is a problem and the economy is bad, it is almost a free fall for the naira. Most of our postulations and forecasts, economically have been put in jeopardy because we may not be able to do all within the timeline.
“Costs are so high, even the projects that we flagged off may not be achieved and this is the stalk reality. Cement is three times the cost of the estimate –almost everything. Even those that are within us.
“Our food security is in jeopardy and we have to look at things passionately. Of course, we are at the centre of the country and we are almost the food basket.
“Everyday trailers of food are leaving this state going to other places. And what are we doing to make sure that we have some relief for our people? The best we can do as a government is to make sure that we pay salaries and wages even though they are grossly not enough to put food on the table.”
Mohammed charged the Council members to begin scouting for a lasting solution, saying that there is envy and malice while the main thrust is to put food on the table. He said it is almost time for an emergency and we really need to do something.
