Sen. Abba Moro (PDP-Benue South) says the country’s political system works in a “very anti-development way’’, citing poverty as one of the culprits.
Moro stated this at the 2019 annual convention of the Idoma Association USA, in New York at the weekend, with the theme “Security and Economic Challenges in Idoma Land’’.
He said poverty and lack had made politics an expensive endeavour in Nigeria, noting that the situation is making it difficult for elected public office holders to perform effectively.
The lawmaker said: “We just came out of the general elections, and it is amazing how badly poverty and lack have made politicking an expensive endeavour.
“Needless to say that the more expensive political campaigns and electioneering are, the more elected representatives will be unable to serve the people as they ought to.
“Our political system works in a very anti-development way.
“You can imagine a political office holder who prosecutes an expensive electoral campaign and spends very useful part of his term in office battling with avoidable election debts capable of distracting him.’’
Added to that, according to him, are “needless election petitions’’, which he said were meant to distract winners of elections particularly in free and fair contests.
He vowed to use his position as a lawmaker to push for political and electoral reforms that would bring sanity in the polity.
On the convention, Moro, a former Minister of Interior, said the security and economic challenges in Idoma land were real.
He cited instances of attacks by herdsmen, bandits and kidnappers; cultism and communal clashes, which he said seemed to be on the rise in Idoma land.
The senator noted that the challenges were enormous and required the response of all stakeholders, including sons and daughters of Idoma in the Diaspora.
Moro echoed the growing call for community policing, in addition to local intelligence gathering to address the challenges.
He recommended some measures to be taken, including direct involvement of traditional institutions and youth associations in policing.
The lawmaker also highlighted plans by him and other elected representatives in Benue South to tackle the economic challenges in the area.
They include the creation of an industrial area where agro-allied industries, particularly food processing plants, would be sited to provide jobs for youths and market for farmers.
To this end, he called on Idoma indigenes in the United States with the means and contacts to come forward and partner with him and his team.
