Tina Amanda
As the 2023 gubernatorial election draws closer, three political party governorship candidates in Rivers state have laid their blueprint, assuring Rivers people of a transformed and better state if elected governor.
The governorship candidates stated this during a Governorship Debate 2023 held at the NUJ Press Centre, Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, organized by the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in conjunction with News Africa London, Kebetkache Women Development Organisation, and the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Eco District 9141.
The candidates who participated in the NUJ Governorship debate were Dawari George of Action Alliance Party (AA), Dumo Lulu-Briggs Accord Party (A), and Tekena Iyagba of Boot Party (B).
Other candidates invited but did not turn up are Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Sim Fubara, Social Democratic Party (SDP) Senator Magnus Abe, All Progressives Congress (APC) Tonye Cole) and Labour Party (LP) Comrade Beatrice Itubo.
Tekena Iyagba of Boot Party, while delivering his blueprint, said his five-point agenda is mainly on industrialization, agriculture, building a world-class entertainment industry, revamping the health sector, and providing quality education for all.
According to him, building a more robust industrialized state would help improve the state’s economy and increase productivity.
“I will start by reviving the civil service by ensuring promotions of workers and paying salaries as at when due, which will increase productivity in the public sector, before moving on to the private sector to create jobs by expanding the production base and the downstream sectors of the economy.
“I will create avenues where youths can assess loans in millions, and it will be monitored for practical usage for them to grow their businesses and add to the state’s revenue.
“I have this plan to revamp the health sector in infrastructure and create a system where people do not have to die because they do not have money. We will partner with the NHIS (National Health Insurance Scheme) to provide insurance for civil servants and people in the private sector”.
He, however, promised to build a mechanized system of farming where agricultural counterparts would be produced in large quantities.
Also, the candidate of the Accord Party, Dumo Lulu-Briggs, promised to transform the economy of Rivers State from a GDP of $20 billion to a projected GDP of $350 billion in sixteen (16) years.
“I may not be in office as of the time, but the foundation I would lay down will be such that successive administrations will operate in the same level of the industry so they can achieve the same target that was laid down.
“We are looking at how many persons, how many households we will be able to take out of poverty into prosperity. We need to redirect the economy of Rivers state
“We have to be mindful because there will be an end in fossil fuel, so we will invest massively in agriculture in addition to the present oil and gas investments to further expand the economy. We want to take us to that place, the great destiny that Rivers State is designed to be.”
He further said he would improve local activities in all the state’s local governments, just as in Lagos, where all its LGAs are cities, to boost human capacity development and the economy of the state.
On his part, Action Alliance Party candidate Dawari George said his four major focuses would be improving security on the waterways, tourism development, industrialization, and infrastructure.
“We have to use our natural resources to build excellent infrastructure, we must add value, and in doing that, we must ask the federal government to expand our seaports to begin to provide services.
“We have tourism potential in this state; let’s increase our fishing value chain and turn it into the fishing industry. We must keep our waterways busy by making businesses thrive across our seashores; let’s take advantage of the God-giving natural resources.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists Rivers State, Comrade Stanley Job, in his opening remarks, said the Governorship debate is to hold candidates accountable for their promises made should they be elected into office as governor.
He emphasized that it will no longer be business as usual as the state and the candidates have been committed to open Governance and open budget principles, noting budgets of the state would be subjected to the global best practice known as budget breakdown to the media, Labour and Civil Society.
However, the NUJ Chairman, alongside the NAWOJ chairperson Rivers state, Susan Serekara-Nwikhana, handed the Governorship candidates a Memorandum of Request demanding that State Government-owned media organizations should be given the required facelift to compete with the private Media counterpart.
