The Ijaw National Congress (INC) has said that the tackling of the problem of hunger by the Federal Government in isolation of general insecurity across the country amounts to treating the symptoms and not the fundamental challenge of food insecurity.
INC stated this in a statement signed by its President, Prof Benjamin Okaba, on Saturday, while reacting to the high cost of living and soaring inflation in Nigeria. Okaba urged President Bola Tinubu to brace up for the increasing wind of economic hardship blowing across the country and create job opportunities for employable Nigerians.
He said, “That there is hunger and deepening economic hardship in Nigeria is an incontrovertible and socially menacing fact nationwide.
“It is curious that the shout of “ebi’npawa” (we are hungry) is louder and more strident in the Yoruba area of the South West where President Bola Tinubu comes from. Even as it is an irony, the truth is that the hunger in the land cuts across all ethnic territories and nationalities. No exceptions.
“The Ijaw National Congress (INC) has watched the drift of national discourse on the issue of food insecurity with keen interest. It is the strong belief of the INC that lamenting food insecurity in isolation of the general insecurity in the nation amounts to dealing with the symptoms and leaving out the fundamental problem of general insecurity.
“Why would there not be hunger in the country, where subsistence farmers who have been known to be the food providers to the nation from time immemorial, are maimed, killed daily and violently chased away from their farmlands for malicious and criminal reasons?
“In the wake of the heightening insecurity challenge, the Federal Government continually demonstrates a lack of commitment in dealing with the bandits and marauders that are ravaging, killing and maiming helpless farmers across the country. Nobody deals with murderous criminals with kid gloves as Nigeria does.”
The Ijaw leader stated that the same military operations meted out to oil bunkerers and resource control agitators should also be visited on bandits and other criminals chasing farmers away from their farms and communities, and causing hunger across Nigeria.
Okaba added: “The INC strongly condemns the double standards in dealing with criminals across different regions. All the forces of coercion in Nigeria are daily mobilized against oil bunkerers while illegal miners, bandits, kidnappers etc in other regions escape with a mere slap on the wrist.
“The INC proposes to the Federal Government to lift the ban on employment in all the federal establishments and the civil service. It is unacceptable to the Congress that the bulk of Nigerian graduates and employable young people are unemployed.
“Indeed, the emigration syndrome is unacceptable to the Congress, especially in a situation where political office holders recklessly display obscene wealth, assaulting the sensibilities of Nigerians.
“The INC, having observed the blatantly skewed appointment by the current administration in favour of the president’s Yoruba ethnic group, believes that this lopsided practice is an abuse of federal character principle as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We, therefore, demand immediate correction and equitable spread in appointments.
“We remain unequivocal in our unwavering advocacy for justice in our federation, and state emphatically that ethnic leaders have little or no capacity to assuage the anger of the people or contain their rage if the growing dissonance is not addressed. A stitch in time saves nine.”
By Igoniko Oduma–Independent
