By Gift Chapi Odekina
Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, has expressed concerns over the scarcity of the naira and fuel supply across the country.
According to him, he and other state governors in the country were seriously worried over the possible threats the development will bring to the success of the forthcoming general elections.
Speaking in Abuja during a book launch and fund raising dinner in honour of the Niger State gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago, the governor however appealed to people of the state to be determined in spite of the challenges and fully participate in the polls.
“We’re all worried. The governors are all worried over what is happening, but all these will end one day. Where there is a will, there is always a means”, Bello said as he tasked the citizens to turn out massively to vote Bago and his running mate, Comrade Yakubu Garba.
He explained that he opted not to interfere in the party primaries that saw the emergence of Bago as candidate of the APC because he wanted the people’s will to prevail against any personal interest.
In chat with journalists on the sidelines, Bago also stressed that they in the race for the people of Niger State, explaining the rationale behind the event.. “As you know very well our candidature is for the people. So we need to raise funds to support our candidature. Our supporters who are the masses don’t have funding, we need to come out and look for those who will help us with funding so we will be able to take care of logistics for the campaign.
“We will want to bring new change to Niger state. We want to rebrand Niger so that we can be one of the strong economies in Nigeria. As you are aware, Niger state is the largest state in Nigeria in terms of landmass. We have 76, 000 square kilometers of arable land, we have hydropower stations in Niger and yet we don’t have irrigation dams in Niger. So we only wait for raining season, we want to be an agriculture giant in this country and an industrial giant for that matter”, he said.
Also on the worrisome scarcity of fuel and the naira notes, he said “It’s generic, of course we are concerned. People who are advising for the redesign of Naira and implementation of the policy are not being considerate of the plight of the people. Politicians who have money are not releasing funds so they don’t care whether you change money or you don’t change money. That is number one.
“Number two; the fuel scarcity is purely sabotage. I appeal to the government of the day to make sure that enforces or put agencies in charge of this industry at work so that there will be availability of fuel. The triumph of evil is short so by the grace of God (it will be over)”.
Speaking on insecurity in Niger state, Bello stated that the there is an ongoing collaboration with the traditional institutions to curb the insecurity.
“We traveled around Niger for the campaigns, we have seen how people live and how our brushes are and how our local governments are. There is need for the government at the centre in the state to connect with the traditional institutions and the local institutions to curb insecurity and by the grace of God it will be a thing of the past”, he added.
