Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Edo State governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has tasked the federal government to come out clean and address the issues of hunger and starvation in the country and stop playing games with Nigerians.
He gave the task during the official launch of the 2nd Phase of Edo State Food Support Programme (Christian Feeding Programme) in Benin City.
Mr. Obaseki said the problem with our political leaders is that, they lack transparency and this has made the citizens not to trust them.
“I think what you are seeing today, the way this group has organized themselves, you were in the warehouse to see the transparency in which they have run this programme.
“Compared to what the federal government claimed they are spending on palliatives, this is a drop in the ocean but if we did things properly in this country, what we have will go a long way.
“We know that there are challenges. The current leadership, we are not helping ourselves and we are not helping Nigeria”, Obaseki said.
Obaseki said that the federal government can come to Edo State and learn on how it has been able to manage the little resources to serve several thousands of families in the state.
“Look how we have run this programme. I hope the federal government will come and take a clue. This is what I always argued, people know what they want.
“We made the resources available, got them to organize themselves and see the way they procured, they procured from the local markets whereby increasing the amount of business the locals are doing.
“See the way they have re-bagged the products, managed the transportation cost and from the little we have given them, see how many families, 50,000 or more families that it will reach.
“And what we have given is just a drop in the ocean compared to what the federal government claimed they are doing. It is about transparency, it is about honesty and our willingness to serve the public good and not a private interest.
“That is what the challenge is today. It is not that we don’t have hardship and difficulty in all over the world. The world is currently challenged but the one solution is for government to come out clean, transparent so that the people will trust them and work with the government to get out of the problem we face and not playing games.
“It is unfortunate that we are were we are, and I believe we can come out of it. I am pleading that we don’t take actions that we make our situations much worse than they are today.
“And in the next few days, we will be going around, talking to our citizens to see how do we resolve this problem we have. Let us not do things that we dig us deeper into the rot and the mess that we face today”, Obaseki said.
On the part of the state chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Gen. Dr. Irekpono Omoike, while commending the governor for all his feats in the state, said 60, 000 bags of rice was first distributed in the first phase of the programme adding that the second phase has 56,250 bags.
He said out of the 56,250 bags of 10kg rice, 21,875 will be taken to Edo South, 15,625 to Edo Central while 18,750 bags will go to the Edo North Senatorial District of the state respectively.