Governorship candidate of Action Democratic Party(ADP) in Rivers state, Mr. Victor Fingesi, has said if elected into office, his government would accord priority to pensioners, civil servants and the welfare of students.
He expressed regrets that pensioners in the state were inhumanly treated without consideration to the efforts they put up in the service of the state while working.
Fingesi, who spoke in a live radio programme monitored in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, said the neglect of pensioners could also be part of why the system was corrupt.
Declaring that his government would ensure that remunerations meant for them were properly budgeted and implemented, the ADP governorship candidate promised to revitalise the civil service through regular training and prompt payment of salaries.
Fingesi stated that apart from paying bursaries to students, he would attract funds from abroad that would help in educational development of the students.
The governorship hopeful, who promised through private investments to increase the number of universities in the state, said what spurred him to contest was the attitude of the past and present governments in the state that treated governance without seriousness.
The ADP governorship candidate stated that his government would re-build all that the founding fathers built that had been allowed to rot as well as expand on them.
Fingesi said: “We are tired and fed up in Rivers state. The state is supposed to be the number one state in Nigeria. At the creation of Rivers state in 1967, the other states then looked to Rivers state for leadership and we led proudly. “But recently, we have been going down and Rivers state is no longer in that enviable position.
So, the time has come to turn the fortunes of Rivers state around and that is the main reason why I decided to run.”
He said ADP provided the convivial space for him to realise his vision unlike other parties where the system drives from top to bottom, adding that the party encourages development from the bottom to the top. The governorship hopeful said: “ADP is a grassroots party. It is a party that builds from the grassroots to the top. It is not like PDP or APC that the order comes from the top. Whatever the top wants is what stands. But in ADP, it is what is built at the grassroots level that becomes rule for everybody.”
