Archbishop of Kaduna Province, Anglican Communion, the Most Rev Timothy Yahaya has urged President Bola Tinubu to address insecurity, fix refineries, complete Ajaokuta steel complex, boost power supply and agriculture in 2024 for Nigeria to progress socio-economic challenges facing the country.
Speaking while giving his New Year message at St Michael Anglican Church, Kaduna on Monday, Rev. Yahaya said insecurity across the country has affected Nigerians adversely, forcing many to abandon their farms and should be tackled, agriculture should be improved and expanded to enable Nigeria feed itself and others, refineries must work to enable Nigerians buy cheaper fuel.
He said power supply should be improved to ensure constant power, as no country can progress without constant power, he said Ajaokuta steel complex when completed would bring in more dollars than crude oil.
“People are hungry in a land where we can export food more than Russia and Ukraine. Israel is a small country but feeds the Middle East. We did anchor borrowers but we did not see the food or the money. We must make sure our farmers get the right agric input. Where is the rubber, cocoa, groundnut pyramid? Where is the palm oil that some people came to pick the seed here? A barrel of palm oil costs more than a barrel of crude oil. Our leaders need to sit up, talk Nigeria and be patriotic to Nigeria.
“People in government should be promise keepers, if you say our refineries would work in 2024, they should work. No nation can progress without power. What are we doing with the solar energy we have in the North? We should ensure solar becomes our alternative source of power. We waste our blessings. Insecurity rate is becoming alarming. During the civil war, in six months, we recruited 350,000 soldiers. The number of boots on ground now is not up to what we had during the civil war.
“I’m not saying arms alone would solve the problem. We should ensure that all nationalities are stakeholders in the fight against insecurity. The Ajaokuta steel complex lies in waste and we are talking of industrialization. If Ajaokuta starts rolling dollars, it’s better than crude oil. We are exporting wealth and importing poverty. There is brain drain, our bank ICT experts are being harvested abroad. We don’t have doctor’s in our hospitals, we have only two to three doctors in the hospital and they are serving other hospitals.”
