Ahead of the upcoming governorship election in Ondo state, an aspirant seeking the ticket on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Okunjimi Odimayo, has unveiled his five-point developmental agenda for the state.
Odimayo, who is a member of the Unity Forum that once united to fight the return of incumbent Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu made his five development agenda for the state known in a statement shortly after obtaining his nomination and expression of interest forms in Abuja on Thursday. He listed free and quantitative education, quality healthcare services, infrastructural development, merchandise agriculture, and industrialisation and good governance and accountability as his areas of preference for what he described as actualization of a rapid development in the state
He noted that education has been the major industry and vocation in the state, since its creation in 1978, and has been the main strength for modern human capital development, adding that the sector was a deployable tool for modern agricultural and other industrial businesses and enterprises.
He, therefore, promised to guarantee improved funding above what was obtainable at present, as swell as to facilitate the use of resources for free and compulsory education in primary and secondary levels like the days of late progressive leaders, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Pa Michael Ajasin.
He promised to reduce drastically, the exorbitant tuition fees currently charged by the state-owned tertiary institutions. This, Odimayo said, was a way to stop the mass withdrawal syndrome of undergraduates from the institutions, caused by the inability of parents and guardians to pay school fees.
In another development, Sen. Ajayi Boroffice (APC-Ondo) has endorsed the aspirant for the July 20, governorship primaries. “I congratulate Odimayo for achieving the milestone of obtaining the Ondo state governorship nomination form of our great party, the APC for the July 20 primaries.
“To the best of my knowledge, he is the first aspirant among all the aspirants from the Unity Forum to achieve this milestone. This feat clearly underscores your sincerity of purpose and confidence.
“It is instructive to note that I had appealed to all aspirants in the Unity Forum to come together in order to present a flag bearer for the forthcoming APC governorship primaries.
“This idea has not been achievable because of incurable optimism of aspirants as no aspirant is willing to step aside for the other.
“Therefore, I decided to consult some elders, youths, and women across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state. “They have given me a nod to identify with a credible aspirant who represents our aspirations, collective interests, and hope for a more prosperous state,” Boroffice said.
