The candidates of three major political parties contesting the now rescheduled Saturday, March 18 governorship election in Rivers State, have vowed to transform the state’s economy if eventually elected governor.
The candidates who spoke at the NUJ Governorship Debate 2023 held at the NUJ Press Centre, Port Harcourt were, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs of Accord Party, Dr. Dawari George of Action Alliance and Mr. Tekena Iyagba of Boot Party.
The debate was organized by the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and was sponsored by Kebetkache Women Development and Research Center, the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Eco District 9141 and News Africa, London.
Dr. George of AA captured his thoughts and plans for Rivers State in “four major strategic pillars” namely: security, law enforcement and peace building; skills development, job creation and poverty alleviation; innovation, industrialization and infrastructure; and good governance and quality service delivery.
The AA candidate Dr. George said the philosophy of his programme is anchored on the people’s vision, which will integrate the people into participating in their own development. “If you say people are poor, the people should be allowed to define their poverty and give them a platform to define their poverty.”
He said all the programmes and projects that his government will execute will take into view how such programmes would create a safe and prosperous Rivers State. “If you want to build a road, if you want to build a bridge, the question is will it reduce poverty, will it create wealth, will it also create new jobs and put money in the hands of Rivers people?” he noted.
Chief Lulu-Briggs of Accord, who summed his programmes for the development of Rivers State under the theme, “Prosperity for All,” promised to transform the economy of Rivers State from a GDP of $20 billion to a projected GDP of $350 billion in 12 to 16 years. He said he might not be in office in 16 years time, but the foundation he would lay would be such that succeeding administrations would approach governance with the same level of industry so that they can achieve the target set.
“The major thrust of my talk here today is how to rebase the economy of Rivers State. What I am presenting is quite bold and audacious. What we are looking at is how many persons, how many households we will be able to take out of poverty into prosperity.” Chief Lulu-Briggs said.
He said he would invest massively in agriculture and tourism in addition to the present oil and gas investments to further expand the economy. “When you look at the enormous resources and the potential that we have, you begin to wonder and worry. What we want to do is to take us to that place, the great destiny that Rivers State is designed to be.”
Mr. Iyagba of Boot Party said that his five-point agenda is centred around, development of human capital in the areas of industrialization, urbanization, structure empowerment, health and education.
He said he will start by reviving the civil service, revamping the secretariat, pay outstanding salaries, effect due promotions to increase productivity in the public sector before moving on to the private sector where, jobs can be created by expanding the production base and the downstream sectors of the economy.
He said to open up the state for further development, he would consider creating eight more cities, each of which will be noted for a purpose. “I am looking at Bonny. We’ve got beauty and we are not doing anything about it. And Bonny could be one of the biggest tourist attraction centres not just in Nigeria but in Africa,” Mr. Iyagba said.
He promised to create avenues where young people can assess huge capital up to N20-N25 million to jumpstart their businesses and help the economy to grow. In the area of health, he said, “I have this plan to revamp the health sector not only in infrastructure but to create a system where people don’t have to die because they don’t have money. So, we will partner with the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS to provide insurance for civil servants and people in the private sector,” the Boot Party candidate said.
The debate provided opportunity for a panel of interviewers to ask questions. Questions were also entertained from members of the public who were following the debate live on radio and the social media.
Vice-President of the NUJ, Comrade Opaka Dokubo, said the debate was the first of its kind organized by the union in Rivers State and congratulated the Rivers State NUJ Council for putting together the debate.
In her remarks, Executive Director of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Center, Obomowang Emem Okon commended the Rivers State NUJ for hosting a forum for the candidates to interact with the electorate noting, that participation propels democracy.
She said Kebetkache is concerned about the promotion of gender equity and inclusion stressing those past and current administrations in the state have passed some laws to protect women and girls from increasing rights abuses.
Emem Okon called for more attention to the adoption, domestication and implementation of the National Gender Policy and the National Gender Action Plan on Climate Change to improve the lot of women and girls in Rivers State.
Publisher of News Africa, London, Moffat Ekeriudo urged the candidates to listen to one another and when successful in the race, adopt whatever idea considered worthy of adding value to the state.
The representative of Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Eco, Dr. Briggs said the health of the environment and the citizens is of utmost concern to the organization and urged whoever gets the Rivers State governorship mandate to critically address environmental degradation issues especially the menace of soot which he said is slowly killing the people.
The debate also provided room for the Chairman of NUJ in Rivers State, Comrade Stanley Job and the State Chairman of National Association of Women Journalists, Mrs. Serekara Nwikhana to present the NUJ Charter of demands for the proper equipping of state-owned media organizations in the State and freedom to operate to the candidates.
On behalf of women in the state, ED of Kebetkache and a member of the board, Rosemary Inko-Dokubo Esq. presented copies of the National Gender Policy and National Gender Action Plan on Climate Change to the candidates to help their understanding on the issues.
Though eight candidates were invited to the debate, the candidates of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (Chief Sim Fubara), Social Democratic Party (Senator Magnus Abe), All Progressives Congress (Pastor Tonye Cole) and Labour Party (Comrade Beatrice Itubo) did not attend.
