Safety of Nigerian child non-negotiable - Opara-Ndudu

ITREALMS:

A front-line  governorship candidate of the  All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2019 gubernatorial  election in Imo State, Hon. Nich Opara-Ndudu, has stated that the safety of  a Nigerian child is non-negotiable, reports ITREALMS.

Opara-Ndudu  stated this on Sunday , in his country  home in Emeukuku,  Owerri  North Local Government  Area of the State , when he felicitated with children across the country.

In his goodwill message to commemorate the 2018 Children’s Day, the Imo  State governorship  hopeful noted that the Children Day provides the country a veritable opportunity to celebrate the young ones and to fully consider the important place they occupy in the heart of the nation as they are future  leaders .

He said that no Nigerian child should go to bed hungry , adding  that they should be adequately taken care of ,especially  as regards their their health  and education as part of the  vision and effort  to make the country strong and a better  society. 

Hon.Opara-Ndudu also insisted  that today marks an important occasion  to rededicate Nigeria to the cause of children , adding that it is a day  the leadership  of the country  should  be committed to doing all in its power to ensure that Nigerian children are protected and empowered to aspire to be great in life, and to remove all impediments in their way.

According  to the Imo former commissioner,  children are the leaders of tomorrow, hope for the future, hence  they are the ones  every Nigerian is depending on to take the country to greater heights in the future. 

For this reason,said the front line APGA candidate ,the Nigerian leadership must ensure their health and well-being. 

He  called on  all Nigerians to do their best to ensure that Nigerian children can live in liberty and in truth, insisting that no Nigerian child should go to bed hungry. Due attention, he said,  must be paid to their health.

He said  that the welfare  of Nigerian  children  is part of his vision to ‘Make Imo Stronger’, adding  that adequate  care must be given to  the  health , safety and education  of children  in Imo State.

 He insisted, that the country must invest in the people by first investing in the Nigerian child.

He said  that children  occupied important  place in APGA programme  which  he said  will be  implemented  to the letter  if given  the mandate to  govern Imo State  in 2019.

 

Hon. Opara-Ndudu  remembers Leah Sharibu and the other Dapchi Girls as well as those Chibok Girls still in captivity, on this symbolic day. 

He affirmed their rights to freedom, to live carefree with their loved ones, to go to school, and for their dreams to remain intact.

He urged all relevant authorities not to relent in the efforts to see that Leah Sharibu and others who are currently being held captive are returned safe and unharmed. 

He also felicitated with the families of all the girls who have been released.

He nothed that the issues of violence against children, child molestation, child labour and other evils committed against children has remained a grave concern.

He congratulated all Nigerian children, even as he enjoined  all  levels of government  in the  country to be proactive in providing  a better future for the Nigerian child.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Pix: Hon. Nich Opara-Ndudu

Imo Adult Levy: Taxation without human face - Opara-Ndudu

ITREALMS:

Governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)  for the 2019  gubernatorial election in Imo State, Nick Opara-Ndudu , has criticized  the introduction of adult  levy by Governor Rochas Okorocha, reports ITRealms.

Opara-Ndudu also accused Okorocha of being  insensitive  to the sufferings of the people, who are now enmeshed  in debilitating  poverty induced by his seven years misrule.

ITRealms recalls that the Imo State Government (IMSG) had on Friday in a statement by  Louis Duru, the State Commissioner For Community Government, Culture and Traditional Affairs , on behalf of the Governor, stated that all “leviable adults” in the state have been ordered to pay N3,000 each as adult development levy.

According to Duru, who noted that the state had registered at least 2,000 leviable adults in each autonomous community, the money is to be used for “autonomous community adult development”. Each recognized autonomous communities in the state, will serve as the collectors and they are to pay not less than N6 million each.

Reacting to the development, Opara-Ndudu said the “announcement by IMSG requiring all adults to pay N3,000 monthly or N36,000 per annum is, to say the least, a step in the wrong direction,” adding that  with this pronouncement, it is clear that the government is determined to continue in its misguided and justifiably vilified programme of punishing and impoverishing Imo citizens rather than work for their welfare and peaceable enjoyment of their livelihoods. 

“In a state where the rural folks have gone through untold harassment and psychological torture in the past seven years, one needs to remind Governor Rochas Okorocha that the basis for the existence of any government is the welfare and well-being of the people. And any government that loses sight of this raison d'etre for its existence, as is the case in Imo state today, loses credibility and justification for its existence. 

“As a professional accountant and public finance practitioner, I do know that there  is a plethora of initiatives that can be pursued by IMSG to raise and increase revenues without burdening the citizens with additional taxes and levies. For the record, it needs to be mentioned that Imo State achieved its highest revenues since its creation in 2014 when it recorded N8.1 billion in revenues. 

“From monthly revenue of about N320million at the beginning of 2014, the state made incremental progress in the course of the year reaching as high as N800million in the third  quarter of 2014. These results were achieved under my watch as the Pioneer Commissioner of Internal Resources(IGR) and Pension Matters, having assumed that position in January 2014 for the following  nine months,” he disclosed.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Imo 2019: Aspirant Opara-Ndudu promises agro-revolution

ITREALMS:

The frontline governorship hopeful of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for Imo State gubernatorial election holding in 2019, Nick Opara-Ndudu, has promised to introduce agro-revolution if elected, reports ITRealms.

Speaking at his country home in Emekuku, Owerri North Local Government Area of the state, where he addressed some party supporters, Opara-Ndudu said that the time has come when a well-articulated agricultural policy should be implemented in Imo State to liberate the people from the scourge of poverty and the lingering underdevelopment now ravaging the state.

The policy, which he tagged “Agricultural Revolution” will also  include the opening up of the rural areas for vibrant economic activities that will improve the quality of lives of Imo people while bringing about sustainable growth in the state economy; the overall aim will be to empower the people economically while engendering socio-economic development of the state.

He said that agriculture is a springboard for economic revival of Imo State and that his government will be very active in the sector because of its numerous potentials.

Opara-Ndudu, who is an astute banker, believes strongly that if the rural areas were opened up through the provision of adequate road networks, the people in the countryside would be connected to the cities and allowed easy evacuation of agricultural produce just as farmers would be encouraged to increase production.

He also said that the provision of power, pipe-borne water, hospitals and recreational facilities in the rural areas will stem the menace of rural urban migration as youths will be encouraged to live in the villages and take agriculture as a profession.

The former commissioner, whose mentor is Chief Sam Mbakwe, late former governor of old Imo State, said if given the mandate in 2019, his government would encourage the return of cooperative farming and commodity board, the building of storage facilities and local processing of farm produce.

He further said he would revive all the moribund agricultural establishments in the state such as Avutu Poultry Farm in Obowu, Adapalm Plantation in Ohaji, and establish new ones, adding that instead of what obtained in the past, when the state government alone was involved, the arrangement would be Public Private Partnership (PPP).Companies, both local and foreign, willing to invest in agriculture in the state, would be encouraged to do so.

Agriculture, he said, has the potentials to transform Imo State ailing economy to a resilient one that will stand the test of time and put it on the path of sustainable growth and thereby reduce the government’s dependent on federal revenues, adding that all the government needs to do is to puts its acts together.

Opara-Ndudu said that agriculture has a composite function inbnu that it provides foods and employment to the people, serves as a source for raw materials, revenues, exports, among others, even as it will lay the strong foundation for industrialization of the state  as exemplified by the economic Eldorado of the countries of South-East Asia and China.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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