From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, has expressed concern over the spate of abductions of schoolchildren across the country.
He wondered what had become of the spate of abduction of children in succession and shortly afterwards, they are released.
“I saw breaking news, another banditry in Kaduna. The thing is becoming funny. Yesterday, you take 300, two days after, they release them. The next morning, you take another one, the next 24 hours, they’re released.
“So, people know where they are. You take 200 and something people in a 20 kilometres distance and nobody will know? And in the next 24 hours, they’ve been released. What’s really happening?
“Can somebody tell us the truth of what’s going on. It is becoming funny. And why is it so? It is so because we politicise the issue of security.”
He also alleged that politics has been used to deny the state access to agricultural loans offered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Governor Wike made the accusation when he hosted the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mustapha Shehuri, at Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday.
The governor decried the situation where every issue in the country, including agriculture has been politicised instead of implementing such policy dispassionately to achieve the intended food security and jobs for the youths.
“I think, I am one of those states that nobody gives loans for agriculture. I don’t know what hatred the CBN governor has for us?
“We have been hearing of ANCHOR borrower this and ANCHOR that. But, when it concerns Rivers State, you will hear a lot of things.”
Governor Wike said in an ideal situation, devoid of politics, the CBN will partner Rivers State government to achieve the objectives of setting up a state-owned cassava processing plant.
“Tell the CBN governor to remember us too, that we are part of Nigeria. When we applied, they said this loan was N5 billion. We have applied for more than one year now. They said we should bring this and bring that.
“They said we should bring cooperative societies and I said this is where the politics comes in. If I want to eat government money, I can sit here and write cooperative societies.
“Previous administration took loan of over N3 billion and said they gave it to cooperative societies. Who are these cooperative societies? And the money went off like that.
“Our cassava processing plant that you are supposed to buy into, you nothing about it,” he said.
Governor Wike said without the CBN loans, his administration was achieving a revolution in cassava processing that would create jobs for youths and enduring patronage for farmers.
“It is not in dispute that to take the country out of where we are, agriculture is key. If we are sincere with reality that agriculture will employ a lot of our youths; give them jobs and achieve food security, then we must do it in such a way that we really mean what we say,” he said.