For Delta State to boost the growth of its troubled economy, it must elect someone with an entrepreneurial mind applicable to the 21st-century world, governorship candidate on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Olorogun Barr. Kenneth Gbagi, FNIM, has said.
He pointed out that as a businessman who has traveled wide across the world and have seen what is lacking in the State and to avoid it from further degeneration, he would offer his wealth of knowledge to rescue the state.
The largest private investor in the State and beyond, promised to rejig institutional structures that play huge roles in character formation and ethical reorientation.
The former Chairman, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, stated this Tuesday August 30th 2022, while addressing kings under the platform of Urhobo Traditional Rulers Forum on the danger of electing an illiterate as governor at the Palace of His Royal Majesty (HRM), Dr. (Ovie) R.L. Ogbon, Ogoni-Oghoro 1, the Ohworode of Olomu Kingdom in Ughelli south local government area of the state.
The former minister of State for education, revealed that he joined the race from a bleeding heart to be able to rescue the State and put it back to the path of reckoning.
“It is the tears and pain in my heart that pushed me into this struggle that I want to be governor. If I were to be selfish and if I were to be myself, I will sit at home. I will not need to do it”.
According to him, the monarchs should redouble their efforts by reciprocating the same sacrifice that made him to enter into the contest in order for Deltans particularly children and children yet unborn to be meaningfully engaged.
Gbagi, who lamented that Delta’s economy has remained in its fragile state, growing below the state’s population, despite its vast natural resources, said: “elect a man who understands where to locate the resources, who knows how to do it and bring about wealth. I am pleading with you people, do not gamble with the lives of your children yet unborn. This is a serious decision that you must take.
“It is very important that we understand the dynamics of the problem that is going to befall us. Unless we do, we are wasting our time.
“Because you are fathers to us all, I beg you people to look down carefully. We are your children and perhaps very much aware of the political divide in the country that you people can see and understand from your various enclaves.
“We have seen what deceit, disuse and mismanagement have brought and today, we are the losers.
“You cannot bring somebody who is unschooled to come and rule you. Somebody must be better than you for you to aspire to say this is my president or my governor”.
He said Delta has so many potentials that are not yet tapped, stressing that the time has come for a business-minded person to be at the highest mantle of leadership and unleash the potentials of the state because governance is also about business.
“Take Ughelli south, as a governor, I will make over a N100 billion every year. You need an entrepreneurial mind. If you go and bring a civil servant who does not know anything or who knows how to hide files, you will never go anywhere progressive.
“We are in trouble. I am pleading with my traditional fathers. This same sacrifice that I have taken to say I want to do it, I am begging you people in your private prayers, let the best take over this state.
“Those people who say that they want to be governor, let us face them on television. Let us tell them what is in the land of each local government and what do you want to do to turn the place around, it’s not tricks.
“Somebody who was a driver five to six years ago now say he wants to rule you, we all know our strength and capacity in the state.
“It is a bold decision that you must take. In Ughelli south alone, I will rake more that a N100 billion because of the clay we have which we can use to produce glasses, vehicle glasses, bottles, tea cups and all kinds of drinking glasses.
Gbagi, who noted that the State is very rich in terms of natural and human resources, disclosed that he has appraised the economic and business potentials and devised a framework to create wealth for all.
He promised to look into the areas that have not been tapped at all or only partially tapped, saying, “Take Isoko land, it is a low bed, you can produce better Uncle Ben’s rice that you will sell to the whole world.
“Cucumber has become the most expensive small commodity in the whole world. So, just to take one local government to say that you are doing cucumber, another one is doing fish, this whole land we have, we can turn it around but you must bring a governor who has an entrepreneurial mind” he insisted.
