Enugu 2023: Mbah pledges to tackle poverty, prioritize devt
From Chinedu Nwafor Abakaliki
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has assured the people of his resolve to tackle and kick out poverty in the state, prioritize development and education if elected governor in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.
The governorship frontrunner who disclosed this at town-hall meetings, on Tuesday, at Achi-Uno and Achi-Agu autonomous communities, both headquarters of Oji River Central and Oji River East Development Centres, respectively, said his administration would have zero tolerance for the plague called poverty by wagging war against it through his massive integrated development programmes enshrined in his manifesto.
Mbah, while reacting to the list of demands presented by the people of the development centres, vowed that his administration would leave no stone unturned in overhauling the general welfare of the people, stressing that infrastructural development is key to attracting investors to the state.
Maintaining that he would declare emergency on education, healthcare sector, agriculture, and other social services, the PDP governorship flagbearer insisted that his robust programmes designed to meet the peculiarities and demands of the present times will not only transform the state but will also provide thousands of jobs, healthy workforce, and improve the living standard of the people.
Mbah who also stated that he understood the huge economic deposits in the area, assured that those dormant assets in the communities will be harnessed into productive assets to create wealth and urbanise the council area.
According to him, with his managerial experience and skills in the private sector, his administration would move the state’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion by upscaling the production and agriculture sectors.
The agriculture sector, he noted, would contribute a minimum of $10 billion through the attraction of commercial farmers and migration of subsistence farming to platform, adding that the farming model in the local government will be round the year.
Speaking earlier at the town hall meetings, stakeholders from the development centres pledged to work for the electoral victory of the gubernatorial standard bearer, maintaining that his background, entrepreneurial breakthrough and world-class businesses had placed him ahead of other contenders.
Calling Mbah’s election a done deal in the area, Senator Hyde Onuaguluchi, the council chairman, Hon. Chinedu Onyeagba, former member of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. KGB Ogwuakwa, Secretary General, PDP Campaign Organisation in the state, Dr. Eric Oluedo, senatorial candidate of the PDP, Engr. Osita Ngwu and others, extolled Mbah’s initiative of the town-hall meetings as the first in the annals of the state.
Some of the community leaders who spoke at the event appealed to Mbah to upgrade their primary healthcare system, construct new secondary schools to meet up with the demand of the growing population in the area, complete their abandoned Greater Achi Water Project commenced by the Chief Jim Nwobodo administration and revisit the Rural Green City at Odoro, a 5000-hectare land donated by the community for commercial agriculture.
In a related development, the traditional ruler of Enugwu Nkpokoro-Achi, Igwe Chima Felix Achiekwelu, reiterated his people’s resolve to give Dr Mbah bloc votes in the March 11 general election.
The traditional ruler gave this assurance when Mbah paid him a homage in his palace.
He said “We are prepared for you, and 99.99% of our people will vote you people into victory “.
