Some candidates of the leading political parties in Rivers state have presented their manifestoes especially their economic agenda to the people of the state.
They made the presentations during the 3rd edition of The Rivers Debate while demonstrating their willingness to be part of a credible electoral process by signing a peace accord.
In his opening remarks, the President of the Rivers Debate Group, Mr Ibifiri Bobmanuel said the aim of the debate was to get the candidates to disclose what they intend to do for the state and how best to get it done, maintaining that there was need to get the recruitment process of those who would be piloting the affairs of the state right.
Responding to questions in the economic sector, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Candidate, Arc. Tonye Cole enumerated ways he intends to address poverty and unemployment.
He promised to bring the businesses that have left the state back in his first 100 days in office if elected as the Governor.
He further said he would bring people from each of the local government areas in the state into an employment segment capable of developing them out of the poverty bracket.
On her part, the Labour Party Candidate, Mrs Beatrice Itubo, assured that her focus would be on revitalizing the moribund industries in the state.
She said she would achieve it by intentionally addressing insecurity. “First of all ensure we will that there is security, nobody wants to put his or her money in a place that is not safe and once we have ensured security how are we going to go about that?, we want to engraft our traditional stools into the security architecture of the state and when we have been able to win their confidence, then we will begin to go all out to see how we can begin this interface , to see how we can be able to revitalize these moribund industries”, she hinted.
She also promised to go into blue economy to see how to secure the waterways and environment.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) Candidate, Senator Magnus Abe said he intends to re-industrialize the state by solving the problem of power supply if elected. ” I believe that if we are able to tackle the challenges of security and also able to tackle challenges of credit and have the government that is honest in its intent and purpose, people will begin to bring their monies here to invest”, he explained.
He further promised to separate those who superintend the resources from those who have the responsibility to disburse and to also use these resources for the good of Rivers people, adding that his administration will tackle poverty in the state by boosting human capital development through investment in Education.
“As a governor l will not be a contractor and nobody working in my government will be a contractor”, he assured.
Meanwhile, the governorship candidates of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Sir Siminlayi Fubara and Accord Party Chief Dumo Lulu Briggs were conspicuously absent during the debate.
The 2023 Rivers Debate was organised by Rivers Entrepreneur and Investment Forum in partnership with The Foundation for Partnerships Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), Social Action, Stakeholders Democratic network (SDN) amongst others.
