The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, recently spoke at his Uburu country home in Ebonyi State. During his speech, Umahi urged Nigerians to be patient and not expect President Bola Tinubu to resolve the country’s challenges within the first nine months of his administration.
Umahi attributed the current hunger crisis to longstanding issues, particularly insecurity resulting from farmers-herders clashes. He emphasized that the hunger problem is not a recent development, but a cumulative effect of past administrations, including the tenures of former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu.
Umahi highlighted the complexity of the farmers-herders crisis, stating that it required sustained efforts to find lasting solutions. He cautioned against expecting immediate results within the initial months of Tinubu’s presidency, explaining that it was not possible to fix all the issues within nine months.
In his words, “The present hunger that everybody is talking about didn’t start today. It’s a build-up of a number of factors. Before the past administration and present administration, we have been having a build-up of insecurity. We had farmers/herders clashes over a number of years for a long period of time. At a time, I was the chairman of NEC committee on resolving farmers/herders clashes. So, I went through a number of states especially the Northern States settling the farmers/herders clashes, and it yielded a number of fruits. And so, you expect the administration of President Tinubu to fix all those things within nine months, it’s not possible. So, it’s a cumulative effect of the past like I have mentioned.”