From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
The Executive Director, Housing, Finance and Accounts at the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) Abuja, Mathias Byuan, has declared his intent to prioritise the welfare and empowerment of citizens to eliminate hunger among the people when his desire to govern Benue State comes to fruition in 2027.
Byuan, who noted that the hardship experienced by Nigerians has prevailed notwithstanding the efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through the Renewed Hope Agenda, also said he would dwell on rural emancipation through intervention in roads, agriculture, and re-engineer security to end the spate of killings in the state.
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The Benue gubernatorial hopeful, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media, Akange Nyagba, disclosed that Byuan’s aspiration stems from the yawning governance gap in the state, with obvious hardship telling on the people who are unable to meet life challenges.
Byuan argued that empowering the people must go beyond payment of salary, pensions and provision of physical infrastructure predominantly in the state capital, with few in the communities.
According to him, “not all citizens were civil servants or pensioners, non-government salary and pension earners can be accommodated through deliberate agricultural schemes, skills acquisition, sub-contracts, sundry empowerment programmes with grants and support funds for artisans, farmers and other vocations.
“For Dr Byuan, his administration will deliberately focus on micro-empowerment through the above-mentioned in order to eliminate the gap between physical infrastructure development and the hardship of the citizens who can hardly afford basic needs like food.”
He expressed concerns that “there’s hunger in the state, and poverty has reduced the people to mere spectators as major contracts are all awarded to companies that outsource labour, which amounts to capital flight.”
To make the policy work, Byuan pledged to create a Ministry for Welfare and Empowerment to fight hunger and poverty, saying, “Such a creation will not be like the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) that distributes relief materials but a human development hub to address the root cause of poverty and grant the people the opportunity to own their freedom from hunger and poverty.
According to Dr Byuan’s media adviser, Akange Nyagba, his principal, during recent visits to the state to commiserate with political and community associates over the loss of their beloved ones, came face to face with the reality of the people in the rural communities.
He added that Dr Byuan has vowed to deploy his style of governance to grant the people welfare, independence and peace should he be elected governor.
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