The governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State , Asue Ighodalo, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Olumide Akpata, have unfolded their manifestos on security, economy and education.
The candidates presented their blueprints for the transformation of Edo State at a town hall meeting organized by a socio- economic group of Edo professionals, Unuedo Renaissance. The event was held at the Black Diamond Hotel, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Lagos.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr. Monday Okpebholo, was absent. Speaking at the event, Akpata vowed to prioritize people’s welfare and ignite agricultural revolution in Edo State.
The candidate, a lawyer, expressed his deep commitment to improving the lives of ordinary Nigerians, emphasizing that governance should be centered around the needs of the people.
Akpata, who is the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), stated that Edo has a debt profile of N600billion and questioned the current administration on what’s been done about the state’s debt profile.
“Edo State presently earns close to N17 billion monthly and our debt profile has ballooned to almost N600 billion as at today.
“In that current debt of the state, the present administration contributed about N400 billion. I am concerned about priorities and how we utilised what we had.
“In the last four years, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, Edo State has not attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the last four years. This is verifiable.
“Edo State under me will ensure we create environment that would shore up our IGR (Internally Generated Revenue), and ensure the money works for the people without over borrowing”, he said.
Speaking on security he pledged his support for state policing and said: “Security is vital, however we must manage our realities. We need to work with the security on ground. I will support state police and we can directly move our resources to state police, fund them, that way we can get security working.
Drawing from a Benin parable, the candidate explained his motivation for entering politics: “If there is only one wealthy person in the family, we are all poor.”
He highlighted that this philosophy drives his desire to pull more people out of poverty, especially in a country where, he says, people have been removed from the equation of governance.
He criticized the current state of affairs in Nigeria, pointing to the recent protests as evidence of a nation sitting on a keg of gunpowder. The candidate expressed concerns about the high cost of living, citing the example of a bag of garri now costing N90,000.
He argued that without active participation in governance, the country risks further decline.
According to Ighodalo, security is a major foundation in reviving the economy in Edo State.
He said: “Security like politics, is local, vigilantes and other local security apparatuses must be empowered to properly secure the local communities.
“The problem with state policing was that it was mostly used by local leaders to their advantage to intimidate people from other political parties and that must change.
“In Edo, in the last years, kidnapping and other local crimes have decreased. We will work with the police, train them and get them to work for the state.There will be a lot of collaboration and this would make a difference.There must be a constitutional barrier so that state police are not used to fight political opponents.
“Financing for the police has always been a problem, but we’ll work with the existing systems. If our constitution changes tomorrow, we will equip our state police even more and know how we will be able to help them to achieve their goal.”
The candidates however argued on the issue of education and renumeration and retaining of teachers.
Akpata argued that the standard of education in the state has dropped due to lack of infrastructure, proper training and renumeration for teachers.
“We will fix infrastructure, teachers recruitment across the state is abysmal, some schools hire teachers themselves. That is the reality in Edo State today.
“Teachers need to be trained and well paid and the curriculum needs to be updated . These changes cut across primary to secondary schools”, he said.
Ighodalo however countered stating even if the best facilities are built, retaining teachers is a major problem in rural areas.
He said: “Even if the best facilities are built but we do not have the staffing, it will be a problem.
“We will ensure that we retain the staff so as not to look for greener pastures elsewhere.”
