Ruth Oginyi
Prof Benard Ifeanyichukwu Odoh the APGA 2023 Governorship candidate on Saturday said the increasing rate of poverty and hardship in the state was worrisome and assured that with the team he has assembled to work with him, such a story will not be hard in the state if he wins.
Odoh in a message of goodwill to mark the independent day, noted that if Ebonyi people voted for him, such bad stories is will not have bad records
According to him, with the continued support of the electorate, his gov shall build a greater and brighter future every Ebonyi indigene shall be truly proud of.
“May I on behalf of the entire Odohzia Ebonyi 2023 project team express my heartfelt commendation to the good and hardworking people of Ebonyi State on the double-barrelled celebration of 26 years of the creation of our dear Ebonyi State and the 62nd anniversary of Nigeria’s Independence anniversary.
“As a people, the experiences, commitments, and impacts of our past and present leaders have been commendably great despite the many gaps in some key sectors of the economy.
“In Ebonyi’s peculiar instance, it is undeniable that Ebonyi has made appreciable progress beginning from the two past military administrations of Navy Commander Walter Feghabo to the reign of Late Compol Simeon Oduoye and to the civilian administration of Dr. Sam Egwu, Chief Martin Elechi and that of my erstwhile boss, Engr. David Umahi.
“For a once rated dusty, rustic, guinea-worm-infested with predominantly subsistence agrarian farmers with little or no education advantage, there’s no doubt that Ebonyi under the past five successive administrations has reasonably advanced educationally, socially, infrastructurally, and otherwise.
“However, it is worthy to note that our State can do much better than its current realities, particularly in the areas of human capital development, workers’ welfare, poverty reduction, conducive business climate, quality healthcare, quality education, and industrialization. Our commitment to exploit our comparative advantage in the areas of commercialization of our Agriculture and rich mineral potentials as a State remains firm.
“It is totally unacceptable that a State like Ebonyi with a vast arable landmass and a teeming youthful population full of energy, zest, and strong determination for a better life should be ranked in the cadre of the third poorest state in the Country with the government almost literally ignoring the danger signals arising from such ugly realities.
“And like I have consistently maintained in my media interactions and consultation engagements, Ebonyi should have no business whatsoever with this high poverty rate and the highest inflation rate in the country as indicated in the latest Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS data released recently.
“As a people also, we have endured a long legacy of glaring loss of our freedoms to speech, association, and even peaceful assemblies which are very fundamental tenets of democracy all over the world. This ugly scenario has further stifled the democratic space and labeled us negatively among the comity of nations and States and it is also obviously affecting our economic freedom as a people.
“These nagging issues coupled with the unacceptable negligence of our critical sectors of education and healthcare in the past few years should concern every Ebonyian and practical cum realistic steps are taken to fix them. The reason is simply that the twin sectors determine the future growth of any State.
“We cannot continue to have our youths litter the streets of major cities hawking to erk a living while our leaders look the other way around. We also cannot leave our healthcare delivery comatose and unaffordable for the average and poor Ebonyi. The persisting communal clashes across the state are embarrassing and must be stopped.
“This is why I have carefully assembled a team of #EbonyiBests to proffer solutions to these very critical issues if given the mandate to serve our people. My antecedents and will to defend and protect the common interests of all Ebonyians, home and in the diaspora, Indigenes, and non-indigenes are well known to our nation and I promise that if and when given this mandate via the ballot to serve in the 2023 Governorship election, I and my team of cerebral #Ebonyibests will not disappoint our people!
“I wish us all a very joyful celebration. With your continued support, we shall build a greater and brighter future every onye Ebonyi shall be truly proud of. We are the salt of the nation”.
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