By; PATRICK TITUS Uyo
The governorship candidate of New Nigeria Peoples Party, (NNPP) in Akwa Ibom state, Senator James Akpanudoedeghe has promised that he would reduce poverty in the state to 45 per cent if elected governor in 2023.
Sen. Akpanudoedeghe who stated this while speaking with journalists in Uyo at weekend, said that he has worked out an economic stimulus to achieve the goal with ease.
The NNPP governorship hopeful maintained that money is not a problem in Akwa Ibom State but a leader who has the welfare of the people at heart, stressing that he has come to bridge the cap.
He added that what he will use to fight the poverty and unemployed scourge within four years in the state is a paltry sum of
N120billion.
His words, “I have an Agenda to cure the most dangerous and compelling needs of Akwa Ibom State which is poverty, hunger and unemployment through an Economic Stimulus Plan which will act as first aid to poverty, Unemployment and hunger.
“I intend to empower 1000 persons in each Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State with 1,000,000 each to run small and medium scale enterprises to become self-sufficient and generate employment no matter how small to others.
“I have calculated that if Akwa Ibom State gives NNPP the opportunity to form the next government by electing me as as Governor, each year, about 31,000 people would have been so empowered to defeat poverty and in four years that a tenure runs, about 124,000 citizens would have been lifted above the poverty and unemployment mark.
“If in four years, we are able to create this number of employment through this scheme, we would have succeeded to reduce poverty by 45% in four years.
“Note that poverty currently stands at 57%. That is our practical way of how we shall be addressing unemployment which is the cause of poverty and hunger if Senator John Udoedehe is elected.
“As a party, we have been promoting this lead idea for over six months and took time to explain that money is not really the problem of Akwa Ibom State. What is a problem is having a government that is worried about the welfare of the citizens, being accountable and sensitive to their plights as well as lining out priorities in a way that tackle citizens expectations.
“Akwa Ibom State receives in the average, N12 billion in allocation monthly. Akwa Ibom State has a population that is less than 6m citizens. Apart from the allocations, we have remittances that sometimes government does not want people to know about it. If we need to implement this proposal, all we need to do it as I have stated in four years is a “paltry” N120b.
“If you look at the revenue of our State, you will see that that is a very small amount of money that government can set aside and deal with the most compelling issue affecting the citizens. Government is about or supposed to be about the happiness and welfare of the citizens”, Senator Akpanudoedeghe stated
Sen Akpanudoedeghe, who was immediately past national publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress (APC), decamped to NNPP recently where he was nominated as the governorship candidate of the party in Akwa Ibom.
