Obaseki Launches ‘Operation Feed the Hungry’ Initiative with N1bn in Edo
*Says Nigeria’s economic problems self-inflicted
Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
As part of efforts to cushion the effects of economic crunch on the people, the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has officially launched the ‘Operation Feed the Hungry Initiative’ in the state with the sum of N1 billion.
Obaseki also said that the present hunger, and economic woes ravaging Nigeria, is self-inflicted, adding that when he first raised the alarm of an imminent economic danger, some people thought he was merely playing the opposition politics.
The governor while launching the initiative at St. Paul’s Pastoral Centre, Benin City, and at the Government House when he met with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and League of Muslim Imams respectively, disclosed that the the first phase of the programme will capture over 60,000 residents of the state through the five blocks that make up the CAN and the Muslim communities.
He declared, “I know that when people are distressed, very few of them will be able to cross the gate of the Government House to see me, but almost all of them will as I have seen, go to the various parishes to meet you to see that you assist them and I am sure that in the last few years of extreme economic hardship, the burden of the church has increased, that is why we want to use the religious bodies for this initiative.”
Continuing, he said, “And for me, it is more than that, you know my position on the Nigerian economic situation. When we first raised the alarm a few years ago, some people thought we were joking, but it didn’t stop us from getting to where we are. We cannot sit down to lament and and complain over the situation, we have found ourselves.
“As government, we have to think of how to respond to the situation we found ourselves and rather than ask you to come, I rather decided to come out to meet you the men of God to begin this process or an attempt to begin. I called CAN here for a meeting on the 10th of February. It was deliberate, I did not invite them to Government House, but decided to come here to meet them. I told them how do we help, how do you respond, I got several ideas from them and my original rough file was richly enhanced and my original ideas was polished and greatly enhanced.
“I must say that this initiative will be purely driven by CAN as a body. Our responsibility as a government is to make the fund available and monitor the process to ensure that our goals are met. For the pilot phase, we are making available N1 billion. We will place it in a dedicated account, from where this programme will be carried out by the men and women of God.
“We are going to use this structure you are putting in place to try to reach as many as would be possible and let them know the economic opportunities that this government is making available, particularly in the areas of agriculture and when we get this programme settled in the next few weeks, we will reach out to you to make the people know the inputs that we can give them, assurance that we will buy all their produce, particularly the ones with protein.
Earlier, speaking the Archbishop of Benin Catholic Church, His Grace, Most Rev. (Dr.) Augustine Obiora Akubeze, thanked the governor for nursing the plan of assisting the poor and hungry in order to cushion the effects of the biting economic situation suffering by Nigerians mostly the Edo people.
The Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Edo State, Apostle (Dr.) Irekpono Omoike, lauded Obaseki, adding that Christian blocs in the state will justify the confidence reposed in them by making sure that the targeted persons are those to really benefit.
Also, the Chief Imam of Benin Central Mosque, Mallam Abdulfatai Enabulele who led other Imams to the meeting, commended the governor for the initiative, and pledged their support to make it work.
