I won’t depend on federal allocations to run Abia – AA guber candidate, OAU
* Promises to revive Okpara’s agric revolution
By Steve Oko
Abia State governorship candidate of the Action Alliance, Onyekwere Akym Uche (OAU), has said that he would not depend on the monthly federal allocations to run Abia if voted into power.
The governorship hopeful who stated this in an interview with Wawa News Global, said he would tap into the huge available resources in the state to generate funds internally for the purposes of development and not the usual squandermanum.
He described lack of leadership vision and unnecessary wastages which, according to him are the reasons the state is not moving forward.
The American-based Economist, promised to revolutionalise agriculture as was done by the late Premier of Eastern Region, Dr Michael Okpara.
He said that under his watch Abia could be making over $2 billion annually from export of agricultural products alone.
Onyekwere said he would massively engage Abia youths in various forms of mechanised farming and animal husbandry, stressing that various agricultural products which thrive in the state are in high demand abroad.
” US needs cholesterol-free oil, China needs our bitter leaves and we can cheaply produce and ship this to them and make billions of dollars annually”, he said.
He urged Abians to take note of the sources of wealth of various candidates jostling for political offices in the state, and avoid those who became rich through fraudulent government contracts.
He said that economic saboteurs and those who collude with corrupt Government officials to cripple the state’s economy should not be rewarded with political power.
Onyekwere who was upset with the plights of workers in the state following irregular payment of their salaries, said that his emergence would “mark the end of an era when workers had to embark on strike before getting paid their entitlements”.
He particularly decried the backlog of salary arrears owed doctors at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba ABSUTH and their counterparts at the Health Management Board, HMB, which gave rise to the on-going indefinite strike by doctors across the state.
” Abroad people get paid weekly; it’s crazy to hear a worker is owed for two years, I mean this is evil”.
Onyekwere said a situation where all hospitals in Abia both public and private had to shut down to protest non payment of doctors’ salary had gotten out of hand, and urged the State Government to quickly rise to the occasion.
He challenged Abia youths to support a fellow youth to snatch power from those holding the state down.
” It’s time for youths to take back our state if our children will not be slaves to the power hawks that have hijacked this state”, he declared.
He promised to aggressively tackle insecurity and bad road in the first one year of his administration if elected.
The governorship hopeful explained that investors could only be attracted to the state if their security were guaranteed, and the roads accessible.
He described majority of the roads especially the ones leading to various communities in the state as death traps.
The AA governorship candidate also said he was coming to set example of, and promote transparency and accountability in governance, promising to publish monthly income and expenditure of the state for all to see.
He insisted that it’s the turn of the ‘I’ (representing Isuikwuato division) in the Abia acronym to produce Governor in 2023.
Onyekwere said he was very optimistic that God had ordained him to lead Abia out of poverty and bondage from May 29.
Steve Oko, Publisher/C.E.O, WaWa News Global. For more information on advert placement and news coverage, contact us on: 08038725600, or via email stevemanofgod2000@yahoo.com; wawanewsglobal@gmail.com Always read WaWa News Global - Your most dependable online news platform for the latest breaking news in Nigeria. 
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