A responsive government should devise measures at alleviating people’s hardship, take more people out of poverty_ Obi faults Lagos demolition

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party has advised governments at all levels not to compound the pain of poor Nigerians by pulling down their houses.

In a statement posted on his Twitter page, he urged state and federal governments to put a human face to governance.

Obi issued the statement amid the ongoing demolition of houses in the Ajah and Lekki areas of Lagos by the state government.

The demolished properties were said to have been built on drainage channels thereby disrupting the original master plan of the state.

Commenting on the exercise, which has rendered many Lagosians homeless, Obi said under the current economic condition of the country, governments should be putting measures in place to alleviate the suffering of the people rather than compounding their hardship.

He said, “What a responsive government should be doing under the current harsh economic conditions in the country is to come up with measures aimed at alleviating the people’s hardships and to carry out measures that will take more people out of poverty.”

“Even if there are some violations as the governments are claiming, this critical time is not auspicious for such an exercise knowing the hardship in the land and the consequences it will have on the poor who are struggling to make ends meet with their little resources.

“The poor in our midst who are putting their meager resources are going through very severe financial stress that should not be multiplied further. In some cases, the properties being demolished are the lifetime savings and retirement abodes of the aged and incapacitated.”

The former Governor of Anambra State, therefore, called on governments involved in demolition exercises to consider the hardship in the country and try and put a human face to their actions.