Members of the different communities in Enugu East Local Government Area have appealed to the 2023 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Peter Mbah, to consider building more infrastructure and maintaining the existing ones in the council area.
This was even as they declared support for his gubernatorial ambition, assuring him of victory in the general election.
They set the agenda for Mbah, Friday, during town hall meetings at Enugu East Central and Enugu East Development Centres where individuals and communities interacted with the gubernatorial candidate on their peculiar needs and expectations from his administration, if elected in 2023.
Bemoaning the state of infrastructure in the area, a PDP House of Assembly candidate for Enugu East Urban constituency, Hon. Obinna Ogbu, called on Mbah to construct a new bridge that would link up the State Housing axis and Thinkers Corner, and another bridge that would connect Ugbo-Odogwu and Harmony Estate to ease movements in the area.
On his part, the member representing Enugu East/Isi Uzo Federal Constituency, Hon. Cornelius Nnaji commended the initiative of the town hall meetings, saying Mbah had taken the right step in ensuring that everybody’s voice counted in the coming dispensation.
He added: “The PDP has done well for us here, right from Dr Chimaroke Nnamani’s administration in 1999, Nike has benefited immensely from the PDP government in Enugu State. So, we have decided that we are with you and we are going to vote for you”.
The lawmaker, however, said more still needed to be done in terms of constructing roads and other socio-economic amenities to encourage more investments.
Corroborating the above, a former senator that represented the people of Enugu East Senatorial Zone, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, called for the construction of new hospitals in the communities making up the two development centres to enable their women and children have access to quality healthcare facilities.
He further called for provision of water and construction of Obinagu – Liberty road to help their traders move their produce to the market.
In their separate speeches, former PDP governorship aspirant, Pastor Beloved Dan-Anike, Prof. Ameachi Ngwu, and Lady Caroline Ogbu, who spoke for the women, lamented that only 3 out of the 24 communities in the council area, had access road.
Expressing worry over the deplorable state of their healthcare facilities, the speakers, while commending Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for his development strides despite paucity of finds since 2015, disclosed that Nike had about 10 hectares of land donated to the government to build a special hospital for women and children, urging Mbah to seize the opportunity the land afforded to give them a state-of-the-art hospital when elected.
While also appealing to the governorship hopeful, the vice chairman of the Abakpa Market Association, Christian Eze, Igwe Emmanuel Ugwu of Ibagwa-Nike kingdom, Mrs. Andy Ndife, among other speakers, called for the establishment of industries that would empower the youths, reduce unemployment, encourage quality and robust education, and resolve the growing insecurity in the area.
Reacting to the demands made by the development centres, Mbah assured that all the concerns and issues raised by them were captured in his manifesto, saying they should consider them done.
He reiterated his commitment to launch an industrial revolution in the state through his well-thought-out development plan that would move the state economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion.
Insisting that his development economic plans were comprehensive and all-inclusive, Mbah promised unprecedented development in the state.
“Our plan is to grow this economy in a proportion not witnessed before in the history of the our state. We will launch a quantum leap and exponential growth. Over the years , we have been growing incrementally, but we have a plan to grow exponentially through disruptive innovation.
“We have several solutions to the challenges facing us. The manifesto presented by us contains our solutions to these challenges,” he said.
Harping on his resolve to create more jobs for the youth, Mbah maintained that the construction of 10,000 kilometers of roads and establishment of industries through private-sector investments would turn the youth into productive and meaningful assets.
While assuring that water scarcity would be a thing of the past in the state, the industrialist stressed that the challenges leading to low water supply had been identified and would be resolved once he comes to office.
He promised that the existing cottage hospitals would be upgraded to General Hospitals, with community health workers that would make sure health centres are functional 24 hours daily.
Speaking further, Mbah promised to end brain drain among the youth population, particularly in the health sector, by providing incentives that would discourage migration from the state, adding that a N100 billion intervention fund would be made available to farmers, traders and youth in addition to vocational skills.