A governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Hon. Banji Ben Okunomo has promised to be accountable to the people if elected governor of Ondo state in the election slated for October 10 this year.
Okunomo, former chairman of Ilaje Local Government Area stated this, Thursday shortly after obtaining the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms to contest the governorship primaries.
Hon. Okunomo who accused incumbent governor, Rotimi Akeredolu of running the state’s affairs like ‘a family business, 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.
He continued “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.
“My antecedents will serve as an impetus to do more if given a higher responsibility as someone who has served as the Chief Executive of a local government in the past.
“I must say that there is nothing in Lagos that Ondo state does not have. We shall make the state an industrial hub where investors would be attracted to given the resources God has given us.”
Scoring Akeredolu low on job creation, the aspirant came short of labeling the All Progressives Congress, APC-led government in the state, a disaster for allegedly failing to take advantage of its huge agrarian potentials.
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 infrastructural decay in Ondo state is so unfortunate.”
“Our oil mill is almost prostrate and our bitumen has become a thing of mirage. Ondo state has one of the largest deposits of bitumen in this country. I will bring in experts if I become governor for the exploitation of bitumen and provide the mitigation measures which have to be put in place to avert ecological disaster that could accompany the exploitation and exploration of bitumen.
“Bitumen exploration alone is capable of mopping up the teeming population of the unemployed not only in Ondo but other neighbouring states,” he added