From Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
A governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue state, Dr. Paul Angya has warned that the rising spate of insecurity in the state, if not quickly addressed, could cause a sharp drop in food production in the state by over 50 percent.
Angya gave the warning when he visited the Correspondents’ Chapel office located at Lobi Quarters in Makurdi the Benue State capital on Monday.
The aspirant, in a chat with newsmen lamented the rising cases of attacks on Benue communities by suspected Fulani herdsmen saying the development had greatly affected food production in the food basket state, as farmers can no longer go to their farms.
Angya who is also a Fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Security
said there’s hardly a day that the state does not experience one form of insecurity or the other, particularly the incessant attacks on Benue communities by Fulani herdsmen.
He noted that having received training as a Fellow Security Institute (fsi), he has the requisite expertise to confront the current challenges currently plaguing the state.
While describing the Benue’s Grazing Law as one of the best things that had happened to the state, the former SON boss who commended Governor Samuel Ortom for not just ensuring the passage of the bill into law but also accenting to the law.
“Governor Samuel Ortom needs to be commended for his efforts which are aimed at securing the lives and property of Benue people.
“I applaud him for enacting the Anti-Open Grazing Law because without it the level of insecurity in the state would have been worse.”
He therefore promised that he would build on the already existing structures, if given the opportunity to govern the state, come 2023.
“Benue needs someone with security training and experience to take over from Ortom in 2023 in order to sustain the security measures that his administration had put in place to checkmate insecurity in the state,” Angus stated.