The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in next Saturday’s governorship election, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, has explained that he offered himself to serve the people to lead Ekiti State to prosperity.
The former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) promised to tackle unemployment by creating 50,000 jobs in four years through an Enterprise Development Fund in line with his manifesto.
The Ikogosi Ekiti-born politician promised to assemble the best brains to bring his vision for the state into reality and provide purposeful governance that would turn around the fortunes of the state positively.
Oyebanji also pledged to implement what he called Proactive Security Strategy to nip kidnapping and other violent crimes in the bid to make the state safe for involvement.
Speaking while featuring on governorship debate organized by Channels Television in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, said he had acquired the requisite experience in governance at a high level which had prepared him for the task ahead.
Oyebanji disclosed that he would put in place an effective price control mechanism to reduce high cost of food and other goods in the state to protect consumers from exploitation by middlemen and women.
He also declared the readiness of his party, the APC, to prosecute a peaceful campaign with less than a week to the governorship polls promising to maintain decency, decorum and non-violent approach in canvassing for the votes of the electorate.
Answering a question on job creation, Oyebanji expressed his readiness to create an Enterprise Development Fund and also leverage on technology to create not less than 50,000 jobs if voted to power.
He said: “We are going to establish Enterprise Development Fund to provide start-up capital for youths for them to engage in vocation.
“And through these channels we can generate 50,000 jobs and a lot of jobs can be generated through online platforms.”
On how his administration would clear the backlog of gratuity owed retirees, Oyebanji contended that the obligation cannot be met with dependence of recurrent expenditure promising to enlist the services of experts to solve the problem.
He told the audience that the current APC administration in the state pays monthly pensions along with workers’ salaries bit noted that the issue of gratuity could be tackled with creativity.
When asked on his security agenda, Oyebanji responded that the state’s security situation had improved in the last three months because of deployment of technology in which criminals were not allowed to strike before response was made.
The APC standard bearer promised to leverage on inter-agency collaboration among security agencies and involvement of traditional rulers and other non-state actors to tackle insecurity in the state.
Oyebanji pledged to tackle crime from its root by addressing poverty and unemployment identifying decent jobs for the jobless as a veritable means to discourage them from involvement in criminality.
He added: “It is good to be tougher on poverty and unemployment to address the issues of insecurity, by providing jobs for the unemployed and giving people access to decent living.
“We are also going to look into establishing special courts to dispense justice on those found to be committing such crimes (kidnapping). It’s good for us to be tougher on causes.”
Reacting to the reported case of violence in Itaji Ekiti on Saturday in which a member of the APC was killed and others wounded, Oyebanji said investigation was ongoing and the outcome was being awaited.
Making his closing remarks, Oyebanji said he was offering himself to serve the people of the state urging them to look for the broom symbol of his party on the ballot paper at the polls on Saturday to vote his party to power.
He said: “No society can grow greater than the vision of the leader. I am offering myself to lead my people to prosperity. I am bringing to the table eleven years of leadership at the state level, two years at the federal level.
“I am bringing together the best brains to develop this state. I want you to vote my party, APC next Saturday. Look for the umbrella symbol on the ballot paper and vote APC for our vision to become a reality.”