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By Jude Michael
The Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev Dr Paulinus Ezeokafor, has advised the government to cut cost of governance in Nigeria to meet its primary obligation.
The Bishop, who gave the advice while speaking in a burial Mass in Nri in Anaocha Local Government Area, Anambra State, last week, emphasized that when cost of governance in Nigeria was reduced, the government would be able to support farmers, pay workers adequate salaries, and take care of other basic necessities in the country.
Bishop Ezeokafor, who was not comfortable with N70, 000 new minimum wage approved by the Federal Government, said though the new minimum wage had only face value, it could help the workers to take care of only food needs.
He said N70, 000 could only buy small 10 tubers of yam and not a bag of fifty kilogrammes of rice and advised the government to do something more.
Bishop Ezeokafor expressed the belief that the government knew the source of finance for enough salaries for the workers.
The source, the Bishop said, ‘is the cost of governance, from presidency to the last.’
He said if it was reduced, enough money would be available to pay workers adequate salaries and finance critical development projects across the country.
The Bishop frowned at the recent Federal Government’s food palliative of 20 trucks of rice per state, pointing out that it was not the solution to the current food crisis in the country.
He opined that food provision was a responsibility of both individuals and the government and suggested that every individual should begin to engage in farming while the government should provide not only enough improved farming inputs to farmers, but also the security of their lives and crops.
‘The government should give the farmers freedom of access to their farms by stopping banditry and herder’s encroachment into farms,’ Bishop Ezeokafor urged.
He recalled the ‘’Ugbo-Azuno’’ Programme of the Governor Willie Obiano administration which he described as very important to be practiced at the moment. The prelate charged people to endeavour to have at least a garden, which, he believed, would go a long way in reducing spending on their food needs.
