Former Federal Lawmaker , Hon. Shehu Bawa ABG has expressed fears over hightened insecurity particularly in rural areas across northern Nigeria , saying the menance was already affecting food production as farmers according to him could no longer go to their farms for fear of being kidnapped or killed.
He said prices of staple and edible food such as rice , millets , beans and maize among others had already risen in the markets beyond the reach of the masses who he said found it difficult to have decent meals three times in a day , resulting in creating more antisocial problems in the society.
He stated that any society that could not guarantee safety of lives in the rural areas where farming and food production took place was inviting calamity upon herself .
” This is the similitude of Nigeria of today where rural farmers who produce 70 -80 percent of food consumed in Nigeria have stayed away from their farmlands due to insecurity.
” Nigerians have been expressing their fears and grievances on the spate of consistent killings , kidnappings , banditry and terrorism across the country but their cries have fallen on deaf ears as the Government at the center keeps repeating one promise after the other to end the menance that has become a norm the masses have to contend with.
” It unsettles me each day I rise to a new day with a heavy heart , realising that newspaper headlines will yet be awash with sad news of killings by terrorists in one community or the other.
” The president and Commander in Chief of the armed forces should know that the country is bleeding under his watch. Nigerians who he took an oath of office to protect are no longer safe in their homes , farms , offices and markets. They are wondering if this President was the one they elected thinking he had solutions to their problems as he said.
“Today where huge harvest of agricultural products comes out to circulate our markets in the country, no longer go to farm as a result of the fear of the unknown. In North Central where they are predominant farms could no longer go to farm, north west same applied and the issue of North east is a no go area for farmers completely”, ABG lamented.
He added that, these three regions are badly affected and if nothing is done urgently the entire country will suffer it.
He challenged president Buhari to listen to the distressed cries of Nigerians by providing responsive leadership at the center , adding that federating units would only be active in governance when the center was doing the right thing.
