The Governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the Bayelsa State November 11 election, Udengs Eradiri has said he was in the race to salvage the state from the grips of failed politicians.
Eradiri who spoke on Tuesday in Yenagoa during a public debate organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Ijaw Diaspora Council (IDC), Institute of Mass Communication & Information Management of Nigeria and Kabkaechi ahead of the November 11 Election, stated that he will demystify politics of money in the state.
Eradiri said that he had signed a pact with the people of the state with his People, Education, Agriculture, Power (PEAP) agenda.
Eradiri promised that if elected he would prioritise teachers’ employment, welfare, and training employ teachers and introduce information technology and skills development education.
To address the security challenges in the state, Eradiri said he would revive the moribund companies to create employment for the youths and women.
Eradiri said: “We will concentrate on the people because once you have the people you can succeed. We will revive the drug distribution company, in order to put a stop to the further spread of fake drugs across the state. We will introduce new cities, and higher grounds so that we can stop devastating flooding in the state.
“We will address the issue of gender, and people living with disability, to ensure they have a sense of belonging in the government of the day and Bayelsa will become a better place for all of us.
“We want to invest in the creative industry. We will allocate N1 billion naira every year to deal with the barrier that won’t allow our young people to grow. Also in sports, we will provide and expand the sporting facilities we have to build more talents”.
“We will revive the economy of Bayelsa through agriculture. We will produce sugar when we revamp the sugarcane plantations in Southern Ijaw that are untapped. We will invest in Otuokpoti rice farms because they are original rice growers.
“We will produce power in the state. We will take advantage of the 243 megawatts power plant in Gbarain community, using the federal government policy on power generation”.
“We will be able to identify those who are into crime just for the quest of survival and deal with those who have chosen a life of crime. I intend to have eyes all over the state.
“We will come up with a policy that every business place must have a CCTV camera installed outside the complex. Every network provider mast must have a high resolution camera.
“As part of the social responsibility of the telecom companies, we will build observation points at every office of the conventional security agencies and revamp the Bayelsa volunteer security outfit”.
This was the Candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Douye Diri; the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Simeon Imomotimi Karioru, were conspicuously absent and failed to send representatives.
Apart from Eradiri, Candidates of Accord Party, Idikio Warmate Jone; Action Peoples Party, Mercy Kemelayefa Ogege and Social Democratic Party (SDP) Binalayefa Osuluku, were present at the debate.