*presents The Agenda website
By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
With present statistics of Kaduna State, the next government must be ready to think out of the box to make any meaningful impact and fulfil campaign promises.
Yusuf Goje, expressed this while unveiling the website, www.TheAgenda.ng a platform that was created to track and hold candidates accountable ahead of the 2023 general elections.
“I don’t envy the next government of Kaduna State. The debt profile stands at N307bn, unemployment rate is 67 per cent and poverty rate at 43 per cent,” he said.
According to Goje who was speaking at a One-day Public Dialogue With Candidates On Agenda Setting For the 2023 General Elections, held in Kaduna on Wednesday July 20, said that insecurity is another huge challenge the next government may contend with.
“It is these facts we feel that whoever will emerge in 2023 should be prepared, so that when signing social contract with the people, you should know that you are putting your leg into fire and know what to do,” he said.
Speaking further, he said only about 1.9 million voters participated in the 2019 gubernatorial election in Kaduna State, out of over three million registered as at then.
He blamed the voters apathy on the electioneering campaign strategies adopted by political parties, saying with issue based campaigns, the middle class would participate more in voting.
“We have middle class that don’t come out to vote. We found out that probably they are not convinced by the campaign, which is why we are insisting on issue based campaigns.
“We don’t want you to talk about what the other party is not doing, but what would you do?
“We have a website, where everything the candidates are saying are out there, so we can use it to track them and hold them accountable,” he said.
Goje appreciated the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL/FCDO) for supporting the dialogue.
