By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
Frontline governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, Hon. Banji Ben Okunomo, has promised to deploy the ICT to transform the state’s economy and bring about a paradigm shift from the old order if elected as the next Chief executive of the state.
Okunomo disclosed this to newsmen on Wednesday at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja shortly after obtaining his Governorship Expression of Interest and Nomination forms.
A former chairman of Ilaje Local Government Area in the company of a retinue of friends and political associates, promised to positively engage youths in the state to ensure that the large deposit of bitumen in the state was processed to enlarge the the coffers of the state.
He said, “I am not an aspirant by accident. I have been a product of history and anyone who fails to reckon with history will become history itself. The truth of the matter is that you can’t give what you don’t have.
“One of the things working in my favour is that I have a digital mental capacity. Everyone wants to comply with the developed world. We cannot continue with the analogue way of doing things.
“In Ondo state, there is a culture of zoning which is an arrangement that the electorate are very concerned about.
“From 1999 to date, the electorate rubbishes any political party that does not respect local zoning arrangement.
“It is also true that any senatorial district that produced the deputy governor, produces the successor to the governor,” he stated.
The aspirant also disclosed his plans for your employment, agricultural transformation and industrial revolution.
He continued: “The most pathetic situation is the rate of unemployment in Ondo state. Year in, year out, graduates are produced and these graduates are not employed. There is visible poverty on the faces of people of Ondo state.
“Many of the hitherto existing companies in the state are dead and are non- existent.
“These are industries that would have provided alternative measures of absorbing the teeming population of our unemployed graduates from universities, polytechnic and colleges of education.
“The only opportunities that exist in Ondo state are those that can be provided by government alone. And unfortunately, this government since it came to power has not been able to employ anyone.
“This means that unless we inject ingenuity in the governance of Ondo state, we will continue to remain the way we are.
“I am coming to make a paradigm shift from the old order so that Ondo state can become an industrial hub. We need to look at our natural resources with a view to attracting investors to Ondo state.
“I will make agriculture a priority and that is a sector that has been abandoned by the government of our state. The level of infrastructual decay in Ondo state is so unfortunate.”
He also accused incumbent Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of running the state like family business, but promised to ensure that the electorates have a full dose of democratic dividends when elected.
He said: “I will be accountable to the people. I will make sure every kobo that comes out of the coffers of Ondo state is accounted for. I will be rendering monthly account to the people of the state if elected.
“I am not going to continue with what is currently the norm in the state where government is being run like a family business.
“I am a young man with a vision and mission and my mission and vision in putting myself forward at this critical time of our political lives in Ondo state is for me to come forward and address the challenges confronting our people.
“Ondo state requires immediate intervention. I am on a rescue mission and that mission is to come on board and make a lot of difference in the affairs of governance of the people of Ondo state” he stated with an air of confidence.
