By Tony Adibe
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Dr. Peter Mbah, has appealed to churches to partner with him in his journey to create a better welfare, improve the standard of living of the people, and empower the youths, women and the vulnerable ones through employment generation, training in digital skills and vocational acquisition.
Dr. Mbah made this appeal at Emene during the final day of a 40-day prayer and fasting retreat organised by the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of Nigeria (CCRN) and at Ugwuaji, at the 48th Synod of the Methodist Church of Nigeria held at Luke Methodist Church, where he was invited as a guest of honour to address them. This is as crowds of worshipers assured him of their support and votes on election day.
Addressing the huge crowd of Catholic worshipers, Dr. Mbah recalled his robust relationship with the church and how he was infused with discipline, purity of character and universal ideas of moral values, hard-work, resilience, dedication and diligence in pursuing his dreams in life.
Dr. Mbah, whose speech was severally interrupted by the worshipers shouting in solidarity, support, and approval of his candidacy, urged churches across the state to partner with him in order to displace those forces working against the good things that were about to happen to the state by voting en masse for him and other PDP candidates in the state.
He also called for partnership with the people for the empowerment of the youths, women and the vulnerable in the society through adequate training in entrepreneurship, technology, digital skills and investment in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the availability of one hundred billion naira revolving fund that will be made available to the youths to assist them in setting up their own businesses as proposed in his manifesto.
He appealed to the gathering, made up of youths, to vote for him as the right candidate that will give them reasons to celebrate by turning the fortunes of the economy around through his integrated development programmes and disruptive innovation that will turn them into productive assets, wealth creators and employers of labour.
Also, while addressing the Methodist Synod, the business mogul appreciated the people for their uncommon faith and trust in the PDP over the past 23 years through their continual votes, stressing that the PDP had responded positively through massive infrastructure both in urban and rural areas and had also provided an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity where the citizens could operate without fear.
Dr. Mbah, who commended Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for his landmark achievements in the areas of health, education, and critical infrastructure, noted that free maternal healthcare had been provided across different communities, thereby expanding access to universal healthcare services.
He said the administration has constructed a brand-new Enugu State University of Science and Applied Sciences (SUMAS) in Nsukka, and had been rated the best in the utilization of the Universal Basic Education Fund by the National Universal Basic Education Board. This, he maintained, saw the state emerging first in the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) examination.
Dr. Mbah, while observing the gloomy state of the nation’s economy, assured that he had already taken bold and ambitious steps to insulate Enugu economy from the parlous state of the national economy by proposing to grow the gross domestic product (GDP) from its current $4.4 billion to $30 billion within the next eight years.
Insisting on shooting the economy to enviable heights, Dr. Mbah said his administration would do things radically differently from the norm by adopting a different financing model that would generate huge revenue, revamp dormant industries, and redefine the present model of agriculture from subsistence to agro-allied processing industrialisation.
The entrepreneur who said his policies were deliberate on how to make the state one of the top three in the country, explained that Enugu would become a food basket, export hub for finished goods through the creation of special economic zones and agro-allied processing industries which would also upscale production.
He reiterated his resolve to open up global investment flow in the state by derisking investment, training youths in modern, digital skills required to migrate the economy to digital economy, run a transparent, accountable and fund traceability governance that will assure investors of the government’s commitment to work with them.
Dr. Mbah also revealed his cut-out programmes targeted at catching the young ones at a tender age of 4 years and exposing them to digital know-how and facilities such as ICT learning, civic and moral values, smart education, and technology.
He vowed to create the enabling platform for young people to thrive which will give them opportunities globally in e-commerce, Fintech, cyber security, artificial intelligence, robotics, mechatronics, virtual reality, and other digital space techniques.
Further noting that his administration was poised to establish a learning village that would engender global citizenship, Dr. Mbah appreciated Rev. Fr. Valentine Azubuike Ubaene of the CCRN, Archbishop Christopher Nweke and the entire church for the opportunity and massive endorsement from them.
Earlier, the churches had assured him that they were with him and would not only pray for him but would also encourage their teeming members to come out en masse and vote for him in the March 11 gubernatorial election.
