Lazy leadership bane of Yobe State, Waziri says

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Alhaji Adamu Maina Waziri said yesterday that Yobe State government has relied almost 98 percent on federal allocation despite available resources that can be exploited in the state.

Waziri who stated this at a press conference in Damaturu said it’s only in a situation where there is a lazy leadership that the state would rely on federal allocation to run government machineries.

“Yobe has available resources that can be exploited through partnership with local and international businesses to improve the revenue drive of the state,” he said.

Waziri bemoaned a situation where gypsum from the state is mined manually and transported to Benue, Ashaka and Sokoto as raw material for cement factories.

“The tools being used to mine the gypsum are diggers and shovels but no leadership in Yobe has recognised the revenue potentiality of that single mineral resource that is going to transform the lives of people where the mineral resources are located and the overall economy of Yobe,” he lamented.

He said that millions of naira have been expended by the state government to purchase and import heavy machine for Yunusari Potash industry but no leadership recognised the enormous revenue that could be derived from the investment.

Waziri argued that 50 percent of the federal allocation received can sustain the state but that has become difficult due to so much corruption, leakages and wastages in the government.

“My zero tolerance is going to reduce corruption, leakages and wastages and make resources that are being siphon available for economic development in the state,” he said.

He advised the electorate to cast their votes wisely and not to capitalise on General Buhari’s integrity and reputation in choosing a candidate.

“In fact there is no connection, because if Bukar had done what Buhari did, this state wouldn’t have found itself in this mess. We are all indigenes, let the best be voted and on merit,” he said.