Imo State Commissioner for Budget, Planning and Statistics, Hon Anselem Ezechinyere Anyanwu , has advised Imo citizens to work hard in order to tackle high cost of living in the state.
Hon Anyanwu, who spoke in a chat with Blueprint correspondent on the high cost of living , adivised citizens to desist from accusing or blaming government each time there is economic crisis, especially when they can easily solve or tackle the problems themselves.
“This is because government does not fix or determine prices of commodities but the individuals who own the commodities,” he said.
According to him, “They should learn how to farm even with little spaces available in their living places. They can adopt the modern way of using sack bags to farm within their compounds. It is very funny when people blame government on high cost of food items which are fixed by individual owners of the commodities. There is no way we can force individuals to reduce their prices; for example, a garri seller or a cement seller or even a landlord who may have fixed his price based on what or how he gathered his materials before the final production .
“Prices are determined by the market forces and owners of commodities, so there is nothing government can do to change the situation. But can only come up with palliatives from time to time to cushion the effects of the economic crisis.”
He also faulted the insinuation insome quarters that the state is among those with high cost of living in the country, saying, “it is all over the country and even the world over because people come into the state and go out from time to time and cannot say this is where they started feeling the effect of the hardship. So also, goods and services move in and out of the state.”
The Budget Commissioner who expressed optimism that the 2025 Budget would take good care of all the projects captured, said some of them would take gradual processes to actualise.