Benue state governorship aspirant on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Paul Angya, Monday lamented rising insecurity which has led to sharp drop in food production in the state by 50 percent.
He said the situation will certainly affect not only the food security of the state but that of the whole country since majority of the food produced for Nigeria is from Benue.
Angya also decried the bad state of federal government roads and the dearth of industries, which has contributed to the poor state of the economy.
In a chat with journalists when he visited the office of the NUJ, Correspondents chapel in Makurdi, Angya
said the heightened state of insecurity in Benue state occasioned by the continuous attacks on farmers by herdsmen has greatly affected food security as farmers have not been able to go to their farms.
He lamented that on daily basis the state experience one form of insecurity or the other, particularly the incessant attacks on Benue communities by Fulani herdsmen. He said they usually targeted and carried out the attacks during cropping and harvesting seasons.
Angya, a former director of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and also a Fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Security lamented that Benue has not been so tested before.
Speaking on the bad state of federal government’s roads, he insisted that the Federal Roads Management Agency (FERMA) was behind road rehabilitation by 10 years, adding that only through concerted efforts would FERMA be able to close the gap created by its lackluster performance.
Angya also said the bad state of roads and insecurity has contributed greatly to industrial underdevelopment in the state
noting that part of his blueprint, titled: “The new deal” has mapped out plans for the generation of electricity as part of measures to revive ailing industries in Benue state.
While noting that “there is the hand of God in everything that happens,” he stated that by virtue of the training he has received as a Fellow Security Institute (FSI), he has the requisite expertise to tackle the current challenges confronting the state.
