A group of farmers under the aegis of United Farmers Association, UFA, in Kadarko community of Giza development area in Keana Local Government Council of Nasarawa State has called on the state and federal government to provide members of the association with an assistance of N3billion to enable them reconstruct their residences destroyed in the protracted Fulani/Farmers crisis in the state.
The group also made a case for government to provide them with 800,000 truck load of food and other valuable materials to cushion the effect of hunger on their members who have been forced out of their farms for over two years as a result of incessant attacks and wanton destruction of lives and property by Fulani herdsmen in the area.
Chairman of the association, Mr. Christopher Gbongbon Utsa made the appeal in Kadarko while speaking on the occasion of an interactive/orientation seminar organised by the association on leadership and peace reconstruction for community leaders, farmers, religious, youth and women groups, including other stakeholders with the aim of enhancing good governance, security and poverty reduction among farmers in the state.
Mr. Utsa who lamented the economic hardship being faced by the farmers whom he said constitutes 85 percent of the state’s population as a result of the insecurity that has continued to bedevil the state, noted that it was the duty of every responsible government to ensure the security of lives and properties of the citizenry.
In a remark at the event which drew participants from across all the ethnic nationalities in Kadarko axis, a senior lecturer at the state college of Education, Akwanga, Chief Simon Ajiki who served as special guest of honour at the occasion, identified forgiveness as a panacea for achieving a peaceful coexistence, maintaining that there was the need for peace and good leadership that would facilitate economic development, political and socio-cultural activities.