From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Doctor Farah Dagogo, has assured Nigerians that their votes for the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, will set Nigeria towards the path of peaceful coexistence, engender viable educational standards and economic prosperity.
Dagogo expressed optimism that the current maladies bedeviling the country and its populace across all facets, including the impending collapsed state status starring the people, would be remedied with the ‘all-encompassing five-point-agenda of the PDP presidential candidate’.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s five-point-agenda is tailored towards; restoring Nigeria’s unity, strengthening national security, fostering economic prosperity, improving educational delivery and re-structuring the polity.
The federal lawmaker, a staunch Atiku’s supporter, made this known during a sensitization parley with Atiku’s supporters in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State.
Giving a point-by-point analysis, the lawmaker, who represents Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, exhumed confidence that restructuring would address the perennial attack on the country’s unity that has seen an alarming increase.
He said restructuring would also aid and restore Nigeria’s unity with premium on equality, social justice and cooperation, among the various diverse Nigerians.
“Part of the problems that had bedeviled our country in recent times is the need to address the restructuring menace and that of resource control, which is paramount to the people of the Niger Delta and other regions in the country with natural resources.
“For the first time, we have a candidate aspiring to the highest office in the country who is willing to tackle those issues heads on.”
On improving educational delivery, he said the presidential candidate has shown he is abreast of the situation with the desire of strengthening the education system and equipping students with all necessary skills needed to be competitive in the new global order which is driven by innovation, science, and technology.
On the economy he said Atiku is fully aware of the enormous responsibility of promoting a strong and true federal system that would build a prosperous economy, create jobs and wealth, as well as lifting millions out of poverty by not only breaking government monopoly in all infrastructure sectors, including refineries, rail transportation and power transmission, but also through his ( Atiku’s) three basic principles of re-affirming the criticality of private-sector leadership, a greater sector participation in development and repositioning the public sector to focus on its core responsibility.
On the nagging issue of insecurity, Dagogo reminded the gathering that Atiku Abubakar pledged to establish a strong and effective government that guarantees the safety and security of life and property.
He assured that the PDP’s presidential candidate’s government will neutralise insurgency, terrorism, kidnapping and other crimes, by engaging state governments to be more viable as centres of development, with decentralisation of security institutions, as well as relying mainly on alternative approaches to dispute resolution, as against predictable reliance on kinetic approach that has so far failed to yield needed results.