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By Godwin Chukwumaechi, Port Harcourt
Governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) for the 2023 elections in Rivers State, Victor Fingesi, has said that with an annual income of N57.3- billion and other natural and human resources, Rivers State should be a very rich state devoid of mass unemployment and poverty.
He blamed the unenviable report of high youth unemployment (1,714,188) and out of school teenagers (188,590) by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBC), on poor leadership, adding that as governor of the state he would eradicate poverty in the state within two years in office.
He made the declaration in Port Harcourt during his official presentation as the governorship candidate of the ADP in Rivers State, stressing that no one deserved to be poor in the state with an estimated N57.3 billion annually generated into government coffers.
Fingesi said, “There will be no more poverty in Rivers in the first two years of our administration. It sounds impossible and difficult for people to believe but Rivers State has all it takes for everybody to be rich.
“Being rich is not to have a billion naira in the account, but to be very comfortable to live without stress and live where children can go to school freely. The major problem we have is poverty. Poverty is the reason we are having increased rate of crime and insecurity.
“A state blessed with natural and human resources, generating N57.3 billion annually according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, yet having over 1,714,188 unemployed youths, 188,590 out-of-school teenagers, clearly shows something is not right. Obviously, that is leadership,” he said.
Fingesi, who also contested the 2019 governorship election under the same platform, explained that it was lack of quality leadership in the state that forced people like him to decide to enter the race for the Brick House in the forthcoming election.
He told newsmen that he would devote 25 per cent of the state’s annual budget to education and thus create prosperity through skills and human capital development.
The ADP guber candidate stressed that the state has all it takes to be amongst the richest in the world adding; “We have the best terrain for all forms of agricultural production. With over 250,000 hectares of fertile arable land, and rich water ways, Rivers State can lead an agricultural revolution across LGAs where we can grow our food and feed the rest of the world”.
Fingesi went on; “A perfect location for industrialisation and agricultural production will be found, especially as we already have seaports and airport. This will create massive employment that can stem the rural to urban migration of youths in search of jobs, and make each locality independent and self sufficient.
“The term ’empowerment’ as understood and implemented by our politicians is false. Empowerment implies the building of the unskilled individual to become self sufficient through applicable skills that can easily generate incomes and make the individual self sustaining. We will bring mentoring experts and skill trainers from functional economies to come transfer skills and knowledge to our people which will rebuild the economy of Rivers State to our desires and dreams.
“We will invest in the education of our people at all level of the society, in technology, formal and vocational forms of education with 25% of the state budget. Our administration will turn our youths into globally competitive force and we will harness their full potentials in rebuilding Rivers State.
“Investing massively in these key areas would put Rivers State on the golden path of generational wealth; where there would be endless job opportunities for all, massive food production and export, infrastructural development, healthcare, security and the total elimination of hunger and poverty from Rivers State.
“At the Action Democratic Party, we want to give Rivers people the opportunity to choose their leaders for themselves, and we are willing by all means to rebuild a government where Rivers people are stake holders, no one would be left behind, all hands would be on deck to reach our full potential and rebuild the Rivers State of our dreams,” he said.
Earlier, chairman of the ADP in Rivers State, Kendrick Christian, said the party was handing the state over to a pilot who would take it to its dream destination.
“What we are doing here is to hand over to Rivers people a pilot who will take us to Rivers State of our dream, to give us a credible alternative”, he stated.
