The President on Monday inaugurated the remodeled domestic terminal of the Dr. Abubakar Imam International Airport in Minna, Niger State, which is now known as the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport.
The Niger State Government had at the weekend announced the renaming of the facility and listed the remodelling of the terminal as one of the projects that President Tinubu will inaugurate.
Tinubu, at the occasion, appealed to the 36 state governors to fight collectively to banish hunger from the country, reports Persecondnews.
He also called on the governors to provide land for herders to graze as part of efforts to stop the frequent clashes between herders and farmers across the country.
“If this is done, it will be a thing of the past and put a stop to frequent loss of lives and farm produce,” Tinubu said while also flagging off the state’s agricultural mechanization revolution for food security.
“You must care for our people and re-orientate our farming population, including our livestock programme. I don’t see why Nigeria cannot feed all the pupils in our schools with one pint of milk daily if our dairy system is well harnessed.
“I know what it means as an economic sabotage for roaming cows to eat up the crops and vegetation of our lands; it could be painful, but when we re-orientate the herders and make provision for cattle rearing, the problems will be solved.
“The governors should provide the lands, and I, as the President, am committed to giving you a comprehensive programme that will solve this problem towards banishing hunger from the land,” Tinubu said.
The president said he has taken up challenges facing the country and that it is not in his character to make complaints on the job.
“When you read papers, some of us are confused about whether to abuse the present or the past or make excuses for the future. Not in my dictionary. Take action now, do your best, re-engineer the finances of the country, and stay ahead on the right path.
“Those who may be complaining now will have to understand that only the persevered and consistency can make a nation buoyant,” Tinubu said.
He reassured that the student loan programme will commence and that there will be unemployment benefits for the graduates, adding that the social security programme for the elderly and vulnerable will also commence.
“We are fine-tuning all these areas. We will relieve people of hunger. If all of you, have been paying the wage award pending the determination of the new salary wage, let all the states start paying the wage award. For whatever they are taking now plus the wage award, it would relieve the public.
“Please, I am not giving an order, I am appealing to you to start paying the wage awards, let everyone start paying them. It is a relief to the people.
“The mechanism is that it won’t be inflationary. If we do the new minimum wage, they would have gotten used to it,” he also said.
In his welcome address, Gov. Umar Bago, said agriculture is key to his administration’s commitment to addressing the challenges in critical sectors of the economy.
“We shall seize every opportunity for the attainment of growth and engender prosperity for the people of our beloved state and, by extension, our dear country, Nigeria.”.
“On the remodelled airport named after the President, the airport was once in a state of comatose with failed runway, a dilapidated terminal building, the absence of fire and safety equipment, and a runway lighting system.
“The domestic terminal, which had been under construction for over a decade, was abandoned, and as a government, we couldn’t fold our arms and allow the ugly picture it creates in the minds of visitors to subsist.
“Hence, in recognition of the importance of this critical infrastructure, the state government took responsibility for its completion, and today, I am proud to announce that the Minna International Airport has been completed and renamed Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport, which you just graciously commissioned.”.
Dignitaries who attended the airport inauguration included governors of Niger, Kogi, Lagos, Benue, and Kwara States, ministers, and National Assembly members.
Persecondnews recalls that in January 2024, no fewer than 60,000 lives were lost as a result of farmer/herder clashes in the country, according to the Nextier SPD Policy Weekly report.
It stated: “Farmer-herder clashes have led to the loss of over 60,000 lives. The Middle Belt or most parts of the North Central region are major theatres of this insecurity, especially the farmer-herder conflicts.
“Generally, the declining security situation did not correspond with the massive outlay of public expenditure in the sector.”
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