Ogbonnaya Ikokwu, Umuahia
The Governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress in Abia State Chief Ikechi Emenike, has vowed to grant Local Goverment autonomy if elected governor.
He insisted that Local Goverment Areas in rural areas must be developed to encourage small scale businesses to improve internally generated revenue for the state.
Emenike, who spoke in his Umuahia country home on Sunday, pointed out that the budget of the state under his watch would increase the to lift the state above poverty line.
He said, “You don’t have to be a journalist to know that all is not well in Abia. Abia can change and we must change it. Our mission is simple, that’s to rescue and develop Abia.
“We must rescue Abia first before developing it. It’s written in the vision we have for the state.
Our vision is deprived from what I heard Dr Nnamdi Azikwe say on the television on during his seventieth birthday.
“He lamented the failed promise of a great Nigeria.Then I was among the youngmen who thought that if that generation failed to develop, my generation would.
“Sadly Nigeria’s condition today is even worse.
“There seems to be no light at the end of this tunnel of underdevelopment. This is unfortunate.
“That is why my vision is to lead the charge to build a first world state in a third world Country.
“We have to do things differently and learn from other developed country on the way they handle contracts to ensure development of the state”.