Benue lawmaker, Rep. Teseer Ugbor, others charges Benue youth to shelve planned protest
Rep. Teseer Ugbor (APC Benue), has called on youths to distance themselves from the planned protest scheduled for August 1st, saying it is ‘ill-timed’.
The representative of Kwande/Ushongo federal constituency at the National Assembly alongside the minister of water resources and sanitation, Prof. Joseph Terlumun Utsev stated this while addressing a gathering of youths and other groups who gathered in Makurdi, the Benue State capital during the weekend.
Ugbor expressed worry over the planned nationwide protest tagged “10 DAYS OF RAGE” indicating possible violence across the country.
He stressed that Nigeria is currently at a critical juncture where citizens must avoid actions that could undermine the delicate economy and security of the country, thereby making things worse for the already suffering people and the country.
The legislator, while acknowledging the significant challenges and hardships faced by many Nigerians, stated that the economy has all the indicators to be stronger if the reforms implemented to navigate the current economic challenges are allowed to mature.
He said, “We are at a very important junction in the life of our great country. Nigeria is facing a lot of challenges at this point in our history.
“This presents an opportunity for us to move this country from where we are today to where we want to be a few years from now.
“Nigeria, at this point in our history, has the prime opportunity to take a giant step forward in developing our economy, our infrastructure, and the agricultural base of our country.”
“But we acknowledge the hunger in the land. We acknowledge that even the poor farmers in the villages find it difficult to get food to eat.”
“Let’s continue to endure for a little while. We can’t afford to disrupt the fragile security and the economy our president is trying to resuscitate.
“God has given us a president in Bola Tinubu who has shown the capacity to make difficult decisions that will move our country forward,”
Ugbor also highlighted the collective decision of the National Assembly to support President Tinubu to alleviate the challenges faced by Nigerians, stating that the tenth National Assembly will ensure Nigerians experience a better life.
“Now, those of us in the National Assembly have decided that we will support the president, we will support his policies, and we will support the reforms that he has introduced.
“We have ensured that every progressive policy that is introduced by this administration does not meet bottlenecks in the federal House of Representatives and the National Assembly as a whole.”
“And that is why we passed the minimum wage bill in less than 2 hours because we want to see Nigerian workers being paid livable wages.
“We also passed a supplementary budget for the president to supply food and fertilizers to our farmers and our people across the grassroots of Nigeria.”
Further commenting on the planned nationwide protest, Rep. Ugbor applauded the contributions of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Senator George Akume, and the effective working relationship with the president, stating that the leaders are working all hours of the clock to ensure Nigerians are relieved through urgent nationwide interventions.
“We at the National Assembly watch the SGF with a close focus and as he spends sleepless nights to ensure that he contributes every single day to support Mr. President, to move Nigeria forward.
“So it is not for us to allow ourselves to be used as agents of destruction, to destroy the fragile economy and the infrastructure that we are trying to build on to move Nigeria to the next level.”
Rep. Ugbor, who chaired the House adhoc committee on students loans and access to higher education, revealed that over twenty thousand (20,000) students from Benue state have so far been captured on the students loans programme and the process for the disbursement of funds is already in progress.
STAR Check: Nigerians, particularly, constituents of Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency, can keep tabs on the legislative performance of Rep. Ugbor throughout the 10th House here
