PDP: Building Infrastructure Without Providing Food Will Worsen Poverty

The Bayelsa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) contends that the current administration's focus on infrastructure has exacerbated poverty and hunger in the state. The PDP asserts that building infrastructure without ensuring citizens have food on the table has made the people poorer and hungrier than before Governor Douye Diri's tenure began.

The opposition party further berated the government's alleged failure to identify any concrete wealth creation, employment generation, or poverty alleviation programs. They view this as an admission of failure, especially given the state's increased revenues from improved derivation funds and federal allocations. The PDP insists that despite these financial inflows, the living conditions for many citizens have deteriorated, with hunger and poverty becoming daily realities.

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infrastructure without food on the table and money in the pocket cannot defeat hunger or lift people out of poverty.

However, the state government has dismissed these claims as misleading. Mrs. Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, the Commissioner for Information, Orientation, and Strategy, stated that the administration has made substantial investments across various sectors, including infrastructure, education, healthcare, agriculture, and youth empowerment. She argued that the PDP's allegations do not accurately reflect the government's efforts to improve residents' welfare over the past six years.

In a counter-response, the PDP reiterated its stance, emphasizing that the government's inability to name specific programs is a clear sign of failure. The party criticized the government's attempt to blame the APC-led federal government for the state's economic woes, calling it irresponsible and a disservice to President Bola Tinubu. The PDP spokesperson described the government's response as insensitive and indicative of a disconnect from the struggles of Bayelsa's indigent population. They stressed that while infrastructure is important, it cannot combat hunger or lift people out of poverty without economic stability and food security.

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Rather than address the critical issues of hunger, poverty, unemployment and the declining purchasing power of ordinary Bayelsans raised by the PDP, the government chose to display insensitivity by reeling out unverified infrastructure projects while blaming the hunger and poverty crisis in Bayelsa State on what it termed bad policies of the APC-led National Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.