TheCable

Uba Sani, governor of Kaduna, has set up an inter-religious harmony committee to promote peace and development in the state.

Sani spoke on Thursday during the inauguration of the inter-religious harmony committee in the state.

He said the committee, comprising Muslim and Christian leaders, must work collectively to address insecurity in the state.

He said achieving peace and security would be impossible when 80 percent of the citizens live below the poverty line.

He said the government will roll out social intervention programmes, adding that religious leaders would be involved in the implementation process due to their closeness to the grassroots.

“We are having problems. That is why I told you that there is poverty crisis in the rural areas; 80 percent of our people there are living below the poverty line. That is the fact of the matter,” he said.

“Last month, we started construction of 32 roads across the state, most of which are in the rural areas.

“Again, next week, we will start building 100 schools to take care of our school children in Kaduna state, because this is the way to address the problem of out-of-school children.

“Children of the poor who are supposed to be in the classrooms are roaming the streets and we say we want to solve the problem of insecurity?

“It cannot happen. Therefore, we must take them back to school or we forget it.

“People in the rural areas don’t send their children to school because they want them to go to farm or go to hawk.

“So, if we don’t reduce the poverty rate from 80 percent to at least 30 percent in the next few years, we will never be able to address the problem of out-of-school children.

“We must revitalise the economy of the rural areas through job creation to end poverty, and that is the only way we can develop Kaduna state.

“We must work collectively with all stakeholders, including religious leaders, to achieve this.”

The governor added that he would work with religious leaders to generate data on orphans in the state to benefit from the N5,000 scholarship programme of the Qatar Charity Foundation.