Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri yesterday said offering palliatives is not the solution to the hardship in the country.
Diri stated this during the Easter Sunday service at the St Peter’s Anglican Church in his community, Sampou, Kolokuma/Opokuma LGA.
He said while he was not against palliatives, he was more concerned with putting in place the right structures and systems to address the economic challenges.
Diri’s spokesman, Daniel Alabrah, in a statement, quoted the governor as saying that his administration was initiating policies and programmes that would bring about long-term empowerment of the people of the state, rather than short-term palliatives.
Kukah charges Tinubu on food, physical security
The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Kukah, yesterday asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take further steps to cut down the “overbearing” cost of governance and put in place comprehensive plans towards achieving food and physical security across Nigeria
In his Easter message, Kukah said: “Merely distributing money through already corruption-riddled structures is not enough and diminishes the dignity of our citizens.
“No one needs to line up to receive aid when we are not in a war. Give our people back their farms and develop a comprehensive agricultural plan to put our country back on the path of honour and human dignity”, he further advised.
He also urged the federal government to come up with a robust template that would put the country on a path of national healing.
Kukah asked the president to give a timeline within which to eliminate bandits and other security challenges in the country.
He said fighting insecurity had become an enterprise in the country.
“It is cheering to hear that the president has announced that kidnapping and banditry are now to be treated as acts of terrorism.
“If so, we need to see a relentless and implacable plan to end this menace with a definite dateline for bringing these terrorists to their knees, no matter what it will take.