Chief Immanuel Edijala, the governorship of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), in Delta State has said that he would run a government that would be more responsive to the needs of the people if given the mandate in the 2023 general elections.
Edijala, a representative of the Belt and Road Africa Economic Promotion Initiative Centre (BRAEPIC) stated this yesterday Wednesday when he unveiled Bishop Glory Ndidi Umerah as his running mate during a press briefing in Enerhen, Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.
Bishop Umerah was born on May 19, 1966, and hails from Ibusa in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.
She is a Bishop of the Living Word Faith Fellowship Centre, Kubwa, Abuja and founder of Radient Women Foundation.
Edijala said the choice of Bishop Umerah was arrived at “After a careful search for a worthy running mate to fly the flag of my party, the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), and with due consideration of who will add value and best serve in that capacity”.
Reeling out his manifestoes and agenda christened “Redeem Delta Mission”, the Delta PRP governorship flag bearer said below:
PRP is probably the oldest and only ideological Party in Nigeria today and is known as the party for the Talakawas. We, humans, are all Talakawas i.e ordinary people, except that in Nigeria we are like people living in an Animal Farm where some people are more equal than others. My mentors have taught me that good citizenship is not a spectator’s sport. Thus, I am highly motivated to use my experience in advocacy to effectively make things better for our people. By our people, I mean every legal person resident in Delta State. I promise to unify our State and break the barriers of disunity created by the wolves in sheep’s clothing and ethnic bigots who have been in the corridors of power since 1999. I want to use my experience in politics and business to improve the livelihoods and well-being of our people, our children and children yet unborn. There is no gainsaying that due to the poor state of the Nigerian economy, majority of Nigerians ensnared in poverty and living in misery with a growing army of unemployed youth channelling their youthful energy to perpetrate crimes and wrecking havoc everywhere. I will work to tenaciously defend our God given inalienable rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
In the same vein, Security shall be given top priority as a precursor for economic growth. I want to reiterate that l am running for the Governorship to give voice to the voiceless, hope to the hopeless and reawaken the virtue of trust and patriotism in Deltans who feel the state has been poorly managed by the one-party government of PDP since 1999. I promise to bring to bear, all my international experience as a captain of industry, having spent well over 20 years in the transport sector as well as the oil and gas industry, first as Chairman / CEO of Express Cargo Liner Shipping Company Ltd, a wholly Nigerian owned ship owning and management company in the downstream subsector of our economy and Chairman of Chart and Capstone Integrated Ltd, dictating the pace in the Power, Oil and Gas sectors.
With my background in the transport sector, I have learned the inviolable benefits of teamwork. The transport sector is a key driver of modern economies and forms the first impression when investors come to your country. A good transport policy will enhance the movement of goods and services, improve the supply chain which is the catalyst for economic growth. I intend to use my vast experience in this sector to reshape and revolutionize our intermodal transport system within the four-year mandate if elected.
I want to bring back our smiles by attracting investments that will ensure first-rate public schools, improved government accountability, improve the welfare of “working families,” and protect and preserve our unique quality of life.
My government shall be more responsive to the needs of the people, and I am determined to make that happen.
THE REDEEM DELTA MISSION
I have spoken extensively about my POWER Agenda which will unlock the potentials of our State. It is awful to note that after nearly 24 years of PDP rule in Delta State, a vast majority of our people are still wallowing in abject poverty. Regrettably, those we have entrusted with our votes have betrayed the TRUST of Stewardship and are now blaming the masses for their woes. Going by the fast pace of global development, it is pertinent to say that the people of Delta State do not deserve to wait a day longer to reclaim their destinies from the venomous grip of the PDP. To transform the lot of our people, I have come out with an all inclusive plan of action which I tag the POWER AGENDA, where ‘P‘ stands for Productivity berthed on continuous Investments in the Power, Oil and Gas sectors to catalyse speedy Industrial takeoff and Electricity for all our households. ‘O‘ stands for Order, Security, efficient Justice Delivery, Equitable Allocation of Government Resources using modern management tools and Data to tackle Environmental and Health emergencies. ‘W‘ stands for Wealth creation without Gender Bias having a mix of 70:30 in favour of the youth to drive our 24/7 productive economy. A reward system for excellence shall be established. ‘E‘ stands for qualitative Education which shall receive a budgetary allocation of a minimum of 30% to produce the workforce for the Delta Digital Economy that will make us emerge as the “digital factory” for the Nigeria DIGITAL FOUNDATION and provide 21st-century technology and telecom infrastructure and services to Africa and the world. And lastly ‘R‘ will focus on Reengineering of our Roads, Rail, Ports and other world-class infrastructures that will rival developed countries, and we shall pursue affordable Housing, Urban Renewal and Rural Penetration to create clean and blue cities for our people. This will be climaxed by a design of a 50-year “Marshall Plan of Action” for future Generations to develop.
I hope to generate huge economic activities that will increase even the earnings of workers in the private sector.
To address the problem of our all-time weakened Naira, we shall set the public sector minimum wage @N50k as benchmark even for the private sector in Delta State who shall be encouraged to utilise the 24/7 three-shift working environment under our POWER Agenda. We will drive away darkness and ensure electric power is made available for our domestic and industrial users. Our Gas resource alone is enough to unlock all other potentials in our State. Our GDP which has stood at $16b for over 10 years, shall be grown to over $100b in 4 years of my being on the Driver’s seat. I have the competency, unrivalled push and connections to develop our vast maritime resources which will result in creating two more sea ports for Oil & Gas and Dry Cargoes at Escravous and Forcados respectively to enable us attract goods and maritime services to the other ports of Warri, Sapele, Koko, Oghara. We shall invest in Road and Rail Infrastructures that will make Delta State the connecting hub of Nigeria from Escravous to Oleri and Itakpe / North and another corridor from Ogulagha to Asaba and Onitsha / East. We shall develop a Delta Digital Economy of $50b in the next 5 years which will engage our youth, and drastically improve ease of operations and reduce operating costs for digital businesses. We shall unlock the flow of domestic capital into digital businesses, facilitate a booming open-API ecosystem, that will support Delta digital innovators through government procurement of innovations from the sector. We shall develop brand new technology platforms and new digital Ecosystems. We shall also open up the financial space for our MSMEs, and make agriculture as the catalyst that will provide the input for our large-scale standardized industrialization whose goods and services will compete favourably with developed countries in the world market space.
MY MESSAGE TO THE MASSES / VOTERS:
So, my message to the masses that form the majority of the voters in the election, the time to unlock our potentials is here. Key into the symbol of the PRP, the only instrument we can use to unlock and free ourselves from the bad state we find ourselves today. I believe the vast majority of our people have been emasculated from performing their civic responsibilities either because they fear for their lives due to electoral violence or simply don’t believe in the electoral process. Somehow, they are the ones being blamed for selling their votes. When a child brings shame on the family, it is the mothers that take the blame, but I can tell you at this time that our campaign message basically is aimed at ‘’CREATING TRUST ALL OVER’’. I can also tell you that our most likely supporters are the YOUTH and WOMEN who have been sorely disappointed over the years, therefore I am launching a campaign tagged ‘’DON’T BLAME THE YOUTH AND DON’T BLAME OUR WOMEN’’. There is an established culture in our society that the youth and women are not good enough to be elected or appointed into public office with a display of several examples of young people and women who have occupied top political positions “with nothing to show for it”. Does this mean the older people have fared better? The answer is obvious, If yes, Nigeria should be a much better place by now since more older people have been ruling us in the last 24 years. As we praise the elders for experience and maturity, we must not lose sight of the fact that innovation and energy are quite critical in today’s world. We clearly need a mix of these qualities and attributes in our developmental drive. The Government I shall superintend will have a mix of 70:30 in favour of the youth i.e our young men and women. I can almost announce that we shall have a gender-friendly government of 35% of political appointees coming from the women fold. What we have today is an overwhelming population of youth wreaking havoc on the internet and on the streets. What did we do 24 years ago, 10 years ago to prepare them for today? How were their minds shaped? Can they give what they don’t have? How are we preparing them today for tomorrow? How are their minds being shaped? So, please, don’t blame the youth again. Blame those who have held sway in our State since 1999. How much investment did these leaders make in the YOUTH since 1999? If anything, the result is catastrophic. We all know what the education system has become. I am a product of the public school system having attended Ekakpamre Grammer School and Government College Ughelli before graduating with a degree from UNILAG. All these are public schools in Nigeria but today, only a privileged few can send their children to Ukraine to get quality education, but how many are so privileged in a State of about 6 million people? Hear what a 7-year-old girl Success Adegor from Okotiebo Primary School, Sapele has to say that went viral in 2019 : ‘’nor be say I nor go pay. Instead of them to flog person, dem go pursue person. Make dem flog me, Dem go flog, flog, flog Dem go tire…’’ Recently here in Asaba, the controversy surrounding the death of a 19-month-old pupil is still being investigated. So my people, YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW. Therefore, we shall urgently deploy a strategy that will change this narrative. Progressive societies deliberately build the future of their youth. They deliberately give them good education. They deliberately mentor them through various programmes and schemes. They deliberately give them opportunities to express themselves and put their skills to use. They deliberately build their experience and self-confidence. Education is and shall be Delta’s top priority – if elected it will be mine as well. I will work with all; students, teachers, parents, volunteers and administrators to improve our educational system for the benefit of all.
While I appreciate the renovations going on in our public schools in Delta State, I still insist that these renovations absolutely do not put the children first. Instead, they move attention from teachers to beautification which is rather cosmetic in my opinion. We cannot afford as we have done, to lose our best and most dedicated teachers. Over the years, we have been unable to replace these teachers because the profession has become unattractive completely. What we need are great teachers who do not engage in private businesses at the expense of the children. It is critically important that all stakeholders — local Inspectors and school boards, teachers, parents and other patrons, as well as students — help shape a functional system. I shall commit a whopping 30 percent of our resources to the education sector if elected.
Fellow Compatriots, I have had an excellent training ground for life in Politics having been on the turf since 2003, so there is hardly any notable politician that does not know my stand and strong desire on how to make things better. Well, my upbringing has taught me that a life devoted to public service is a life well-lived and that nobody is common and nobody should use instrumentality of government to make people common and subservient. We need a wealth creator, not a person with itching fingers to manage our collective wealth, in fact, we don’t need a kleptomaniac as our next Governor. For those who know me closely, I am a no-nonsense person. I have a track record for speaking my mind as was the case in the governorship debate of 2011 on Channels TV when I ran for the governorship of Delta State under the Labour ticket.
I know that “Times change” and with every election comes hope. 2023 is not going to be business as usual as I am assured that the votes will count. So I urge all those who still harbour ill feelings to go and register within the window given by INEC, to enable all of us to determine who governs the State next. Winning an election is about winning good things for your constituents, and not personal gains. I fully understand that political power lies inherent in the citizens alone. I know Delta State will end its entropy and rediscover its greatness if I get elected by the good people of Delta State. So, I want to use this opportunity to call on the media to do unbiased reporting on issue-based campaigns of the political parties that will contest the 2023 election. The media has a major obligation to the electorates to guide the process and ensure a transparent and credible election. The voters themselves should not just hope for good leadership, they should go out there and obtain their PVCs and vote for PRP.
On my part, I can assure you all that OUR TIME HAS COME and I am more resolute than ever before to see this process through and by the GRACE of God PRP shall surely take over Osadebey House with a landslide victory. The most important factor in all of this is the GOD factor and He has assured me that we shall be victorious.
Thank you all for coming. I hope we can pass this message to all our citizens and we all can be partners in the real transformation and accelerated development that our people are yearning for.
God bless PRP, God Bless Delta State. God Bless Nigeria and of course, God bless the Voters and the Media.
