Afrigather The candidates of three main political events contesting Saturday’s Governorship Election in Rivers State have vowed to rework the state’s economic system if they’re ultimately elected governor.
The candidates, who spoke on the NUJ Governorship Debate 2023 held on the NUJ Press Centre, Port Harcourt, had been Dumo Lulu-Briggs of Accord, Dawari George of Motion Alliance, and Tekena Iyagba of Boot Occasion.
The talk was organised by the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in collaboration with NewsAfrica-London, Kebetkache Ladies Growth Organisation, and the Rotary Membership of Port Harcourt Eco District 9141, with dwell broadcast help from Atlantic Tv Community, Want FM, Love 97.7FM, At present 95.1FM and Wave 92.7FM.
George of AA captured his ideas and plans for Rivers State in “4 main strategic pillars” particularly: Safety, regulation enforcement and peace constructing; Abilities improvement, job creation and poverty alleviation; innovation, industrialisation and infrastructure; and Good governance and high quality service supply.
The AA candidate George stated the philosophy of his programme is anchored on the individuals’s imaginative and prescient, which can combine the individuals into collaborating in their very own improvement.
“When you say persons are poor, the individuals needs to be allowed to outline their poverty and provides them a platform to outline their poverty.”
He stated all of the programmes and initiatives that his authorities will execute will take into view how such programmes would create a secure and affluent Rivers State.
“If you wish to construct a street, if you wish to construct a bridge, the query is will it cut back poverty, will it create wealth, will it additionally create new jobs and put cash within the palms of Rivers individuals?” he stated.
Lulu-Briggs of Accord, who summed his programmes for the event of Rivers State beneath the theme, “Prosperity for All,” promised to rework the economic system of Rivers State from a GDP of $20 billion to a projected GDP of $350 billion in no more than 16 years, all issues being equal.
He admitted that he may not be in workplace in that point, however the basis he would have laid could be such that succeeding administrations would method governance with the identical degree of business in order that they will obtain the goal he would have set.
“The foremost thrust of my speak right here as we speak is rebase the economic system of Rivers State. What I’m presenting is sort of daring and audacious. What we’re is what number of individuals, what number of households we can take out of poverty into prosperity,” Chief Lulu-Briggs stated.
He stated he would make investments massively in agriculture and tourism along with the current oil and fuel investments to additional increase the economic system. “Once you take a look at the large sources and the potential that we’ve you start to surprise and fear. What we wish to do is to take us to that place, the nice future that Rivers State is designed to be.”
Iyagba of Boot Occasion stated that every one his five-point agenda is centred round improvement of human capital within the areas of industrialisation, urbanisation, construction empowerment, well being and schooling.
He stated he’ll begin by reviving the civil service, revamp the secretariat, pay excellent salaries, impact due promotions to extend productiveness within the public sector earlier than shifting on to the personal sector the place jobs may be created by increasing manufacturing base and the downstream sectors of the economic system.
He stated to open up the state for additional improvement; he would take into account creating eight extra cities, every of which can be famous for a goal. “I’m Bonny. We’ve acquired magnificence and we aren’t doing something about it. And Bonny may very well be one of many greatest vacationer attraction centres not simply in Nigeria however in Africa,” Iyagba stated.
He promised to create avenues the place younger individuals can assess enormous capital as much as N25 million to jumpstart their companies and assist the economic system to develop.
Within the space of well being, he stated, “I’ve this plan to revamp the well being sector not solely in infrastructure however to create a system the place individuals don’t need to die as a result of they don’t have cash. So, we are going to accomplice with the NHIS (Nationwide Well being Insurance coverage Scheme) to supply insurance coverage for civil servants and folks within the personal sector,” the Boot Occasion candidate stated.
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The talk offered alternative for a panel of interviewers to ask questions.
Questions had been additionally taken from members of the general public who had been following the talk dwell on radio and the social media.
The Vice-President of the NUJ, Opaka Dokubo, stated the talk was the primary of its sort organised by the union in Rivers State and congratulated the Rivers State Council of the union for placing collectively the talk.
Earlier than the talk took off, the Chairman of the NUJ in Rivers State, Stanley Job, and the State Chairman of Nationwide Affiliation of Ladies Journalists, Serekara Nwikhana, offered a Constitution of Demand for the state-owned media organisations to the candidates.
Although eight candidates had been invited to the talk, the candidates of Peoples Democratic Occasion (Sim Fubara), Social Democratic Occasion (Senator Magnus Abe), All Progressives Congress (Tonye Cole) and Labour Occasion (Beatrice Itubo) didn’t attend.
