By Raphael Okhiria
Mr. Ogbemudia Bassey Osagie, has promised to build a security dragnet around the state with a view to attracting and creating an enabling environment for industries.
The Edo-born Canadian police officer who is a governorship aspirant under the platform of the Labour Party (LP), said being an Edo son with experience of over 24 years in the Toronto police, he has what it takes to secure the state and make sure investors are attracted to invest in the state.
Osagie, who stated this in Benin on Thursday during a chat with Journalists, lamented that many Edo sons and daughters who have big companies in the US, Canada, UK, etc are willing to come to the state to invest but due to insecurity they are scared of coming.
The governorship aspirant who noted that after many years of experience in a foreign land he decided to come to his state to bring to bear his wealth of experience, said: “I have had the privilege to serve the people of Toronto. That same ethical value, that accountability, that transparency, that mindset that you need to do something good for your people is what I have brought to Edo State.
“What I am going to do as Edo State governor, is to bring Toronto to Edo State so that we can start to see progress. Our people need change.
“Our major priority is security. Without security, there cannot be a success. There cannot be economic development unless you have an efficient and effective law enforcement agency to keep people in check. These are my vision for Edo State.
“All our people I consulted in the US, Canada and UK claim they cannot come and set up their factories because the state is not secured. We have many of our people who own big pharmaceutical companies and others, but they said they can’t come home because our state is not secured.
“So, as an international security expert, I will build a security dragnet around Edo State so that our people in diaspora will start coming home to invest. Trust me, I have served in the whitman security for years, but the white will not come and fix our security for us. We will fix it. We are going to persuade our people to come and invest.
“We will create the enabling environment for industries to flourish in Edo State. We have mineral resources, but we have no industries. What I am going to do is to build factories, industries, so that we can be able to produce instead of consumption,” he said.
While promising to build the youths of Edo by making sure they acquire modern technologies, the governorship aspirant also promised to give farmers soft loan so that there can be food security.
“We need to go back not only to secure our farmland but farming. We will give our farmers some fundings. There are a lot of young men who want to go into farming, we need to give them loan. That way, we will reduce food insecurity in Edo State and in Nigeria in general,” he added.
He also promised to fix all roads in the state and give 24 hours electricity.
He said: “During my tenure as governor God willing, there will be no federal road. Any road that my people drive belongs to us, and we will not leave it to collapse.
He added: “No country can develop without electricity. You can’t have factory without electricity. What I am going to do as governor is to look into the power problem and solve it. We plan to provide 24 hours electricity to our people. It is not a rocket science. If the companies we have in Nigeria cannot do it, I will bring Canadian Hydro to look into our power structure and fix the electricity challenge.”
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