The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has promised to build an inland port in Kogi State if elected president in 2023. The PDP candidate also promised to revive the moribund Ajaokuta Steel complex to open up the state for rapid development, industrialisation and employment opportunities for the youth population. Speaking yesterday in Lokoja, the state capital during a PDP presidential rally, he said his team had made a list of the developmental challenges confronting the state.
“Most of the challenges have been enumerated by previous speakers; one of them is the issue of Ajaokuta. I want to affirm here that if you give us your support and elect a PDP government, the nightmare of Ajaokuta will be a thing of the past. Through the development of the port in Kogi, we also will have access to the maritime transportation in this country. So it is not a Kogi matter, it is our matter for the entire north of the country. I promise you we will implement that programme. Let me also assure you that if you vote for PDP, there will be no more salary areas in Kogi State.
“From what I have seen from Obajana up to Lokoja, it is thousands of young men and women. We will give you jobs, if we don’t give you jobs, we will give you business to do. I promise to set aside ten billion US dollars to empower our young men and women so that they can live comfortable lives.” The PDP candidate also promised that under him, universities in the country will close down and shut students out of school for many months as a result of strike actions. “Let me appeal to you; if you want all these issues to be resolved, PDP is the answer. If you look at Kogi State itself, since PDP stopped governing Kogi State, no development has taken place in this state. Everything in Kogi was built by PDP,” he said.
The chairman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State and the Director General of the Campaign Council, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State also addressed the rally.