Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger State, Mohammed Bago, has described the currency swap policy of the apex bank and the fuel scarcity in the country as acts of sabotage against the ruling party ahead of the forthcoming elections.
Bago said in his remarks at an event held in Abuja to raise funds to support his governorship aspiration.
He accused those pushing for the naira redesign and swap policy of being inconsiderate towards the plight of the masses.
Bago said: “People who are advising for the redesign of the Naira and implementation of the policy are not being considerate of the plight of the people.
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“Politicians who have money are not releasing funds so they don’t care whether you change money or you don’t change money. That is number one.
“Number two; the fuel scarcity is pure sabotage. I appeal to the government of the day to make sure that it enforces or put agencies in charge of this industry at work so that there will be the availability of fuel.”
On his blueprint, Bago, who is the chairman House committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa, said: “We want to bring new change to Niger State. We want to rebrand Niger so that we can be one of the strong economies in Nigeria.
“As you are aware, Niger State is the largest state in Nigeria in terms of landmass. We have 76, 000 square kilometres of arable land, we have hydropower stations in Niger and yet we don’t have irrigation dams in Niger.
“So, we only wait for raining season, we want to be an agriculture giant in this country and an industrial giant for that matter.”
Bago also assured that if elected as governor, his administration would tackle insecurity in the North-Central state through collaboration with the local governments and traditional institutions.
Speaking at the event, Niger State governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, said all Nigerian governors were worried about the current state of affairs in the country.
He said states’ chief executives feel the pains of their citizens caused by the energy and financial crises but expressed optimism that such would soon be over.
Bello described the APC governorship candidate as a grassroots politician with the leadership acumen and zest to take the power state to the next level of transformation, calling for support for his emergence as the next Niger state governor.