By: Felix Ikpotor
Governorship candidate of the Allied People’s Party (APM) in Rivers State, Barr Innocent Ekwu has said he would concentrate on the local economy, revive moribund industries and create massive employments for youths of the state if elected in 2023.
Ekwu who stated this in an exclusive interview with Port Harcourt Spectator said the state at this point needs someone with a compassionate heart to deliberately reduce poverty.
He alleged that government through its policies and programmes have impoverished Rivers people.
The legal practitioner who is contesting for the second time having aspired on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in 2007 against Sir Celestine Omehia, said he will create additional 27 Local Government Development Areas as a strategy to spread development round the state and decentralize Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor.
“I’m coming to provide solutions to the known problems of Rivers State. Rivers State use to have very many industries, productive corporations, service agencies but all these is now dead. Many of them were operating when this government came into office but all of them are now dead. The government by its policies closed them down by refusing to allocate monies to them so as it where today, there is no industries”.
“Infact, even most of the foreign industrial organisations that are here have shutdown, many have packed out, so how will the internally generated revenue grow? How would our children get jobs? How will the city develop? so I need to come back and restore industrialization, restore those industries of Rivers State that are closed down, create new ones to build capacity, to create a competitive future for Rivers State and its people and I’m coming to deliberately redistribute funds. You will see that in this state today, 90 percent of the funds are spent in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor, that’s an anomaly, a breach of the constitution and an injustice to the people of Rivers State because there are twenty three local councils and there are rural communities and the city, there must be equitable distribution of funds, equitable distribution of development.
“I’m going to give special attention to rural economy by creating additional 27 Local Government Development Areas from the existing 23 local government areas. Each local government will be divided into two, create new headquarters, create health facilities, decentralize government, bring government near to the people, distribute funds there and then create industrial clusters in each of these local councils where thousands of youths would be trained, equipped and given funds to start their own businesses in ICT, technology, industrial wares manufacturing all for exports into the West African markets and elsewhere, this is what I’m coming to do,” he said.
Ekwu, also said that he is going to revive the scholarship board to grant scholarships and pay bursaries to students in the state and ensure that the welfare of civil servants are adequately attended to by ensuring prompt payment of salaries and other benefits.
While expressing confidence that his party is on ground to defeat other contenders for the Rivers top job, he said, ‘we are not competing with those who call themselves big party, we are mobilising the people, our focus is on the 3.3 million registered voters in Rivers State. We also know that the turnout of voters in Rivers State is about 35 to 40 percent and we expect that with the consciousness that’s rising now, we could get up to 60-70 percent turnout of voters and we are targeting that votes and we will win”.
The gubernatorial candidate urged Rivers people not to vote on party basis in 2023 but to look at the antecedents of each candidate.
While canvassing for support from Rivers people, he said, ‘this election that is coming should be a watershed. It should be a landmark; the focus should be on candidates not on party, not noise making, look at the programmes of each of the candidates, how can he solve the problem of the masses? How does it put food on their table? How can these programmes provide money for people to do their businesses? How does this programme create employment? If any candidate cannot explain how these programmes can put food on the table, citizens should not listen to him no matter the person sponsoring him but they should look at a man that has programmes that would cushion poverty, within the first one year, every household would have a feel of governance. It’s not only to build roads, what about welfare for the people? Don’t vote for candidates that are coming to continue from where their masters stopped, Rivers people should not make a mistake, they should vote a man that has the competence to deliver”.
