A renowned Social Entrepreneur, Alhaji Yakubu Layi Gobir, has decried the level of hunger ravaging the country as a whole and Kwara State in particular, warning that the situation must not be allowed to continue.
Alhaji Gobir said available reports had shown that majority of Nigerians are feeling the adverse effects of hunger in their various households and urgent measures must be taken by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal and State Government to cushion the effects on the masses.
He spoke to journalists at the weekend shortly after he participated in the just concluded local government election in his Gambari Ward of Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara State.
Alhaji Gobir, a frontline pharmacist, described what he called “pervasive hunger” as a threat to national security while government cannot afford to close its eyes in line with change mantra and catalogue of promises it made to the people during the 2015 electioneering processes.
“I think it is high time our government led by the APC listens to the people and takes urgent action to address starvation in the land. People are really hungry, and as the saying goes “a hungry man is an angry man”.
Speaking on local government administration, the social entrepreneur appealed to the Federal Government to reconsider direct payment of monthly allocation to the third of tier of government from the federation coffers, saying the current mode of paying them through the joint account with the state should be reviewed.
He said local government areas remain the closest to the grass root, while efforts should be made to ensure their viability like it was in the past.
On the just concluded local government election in Kwara State, Gobir lauded
the turnout of voters for the exercise but called for introduction of card readers into the process in subsequent elections with a view to making it more credible and acceptable to the electorate.
“One thing that I think we should fix ahead of the next election is the use of card readers. The fact that we were not able to use card readers in this election, I think it’s a serious constraint. It is something that should be addressed ahead of the next election. The 2015 election that brought in the current administration was on account of new technologies introduced into the electoral processes.
“If we go back to the way elections were held in the past , I foresee a situation where we would begin to regress. So, I think the electoral umpire needs to make sure the electoral process is seen as transparent and credible”, Gobir said.
On the just concluded Local Government elections, Gobir asked the electorate to accept the results in good faith and eschew violent protests.
