A House of Representatives member, Engr. Suleiman Abubakar Gumi, has expressed his concern over the inability of his constituents to engage in farming activities due to the devastating actions of bandits and terrorists in Zamfara State.

Speaking over the weekend, after he, along with hundreds of his constituents, defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gumi noted that the prevailing insecurity has severely affected the livelihoods of his people.

Gumi, who represents the Gumi/Bukkuyyum federal constituency, distributed irrigation equipment, solar pumping machines, and several incentives at the event. He also pledged to work towards the construction of access roads to facilitate his constituents’ return to their farmlands.

He justified the intervention by stating it aligned with his responsibilities to his constituents.

He said, “I announced the commencement of the construction of a major road that is leading to the farms in Gummi Local Government. The reason is that if we are encouraging people to go farm, we should pave the way for them to go to farm and bring out their produce with ease. That is why we launched it and it will be constructed in the shortest possible time.”

He continued, “Secondly, there’s another ward called Zonma in Bukkuyum Local Government, where the road in their town has a lot of water crossing a particular point where there’s a dam. Unfortunately, the dam gave way during the rainy season and the road is really not motorable and is a very difficult terrain for them to pass through.”

“So, we think it’s better to create a permanent solution by constructing a steel bridge for them so that they can be accessing their homes and coming to town to do their normal day-to-day business. That is also ongoing right now. Every member is entitled to a certain threshold in the annual budget. At this moment, what our people are suffering from is insecurity.”

“Because of insecurity, they cannot go to farm to get their livelihood, because farming is what we do here in my region. So, I will focus on a lot of empowerment for them so that they can get some success from the insecurity that we are facing.”

“And like the road that we are trying to construct, there is another part of the local government that is safe for farming. Because of the bad road, people cannot go there. So the best thing is to divert their attention from areas with so much insecurity to areas that are secured.”

“By creating that road, we will open up more farming lands in areas where there is good security so that they can go to farm. And part of the things I plan for them is to make sure we empower them as much as we can, so that they can go to farm, because farming is the fastest way you can provide employment for people so they can be self-reliant.”