Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the governorship candidates of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State, Shuaib Oba Abdulraheem and Alhaji Shuaib Yaman Abdullahi, on Thursday said their focus will be on education and agriculture, respectively, to restore the glory of the state.
The duo spoke at the governorship debate of the state council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) tagged “Conversation 2023” in Ilorin.
While Abdulraheem, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, held the view that education could be employed to solve 90 per cent of the societal problems, Abdullahi said the time is ripe to embark on an agricultural revolution.
The NNPP governorship flag-bearer observed that investment in education is the nation’s key wealth and must be in the right quality and quantity.
He noted that the misguided individuals committing banditry, kidnapping and terrorism got ensnared due to a lack of attention to the right education.
Abdulraheem, who is also a one-time Executive Chairman, Federal Character Commission (FCC), added that he would take a holistic look into the state education and teachers engaged to tutor prospective students if elected in next year’s polls.
“Education has a very strong influence on my life as a teacher. Lack of attention to education is a major problem. Therefore, education will be my priority when given the mandate.
“Education is the key to unlocking the key wealth of the nation. If you have an education, 90 per cent of the nation’s problem is solved. And also I will take serious measures to put education in the right place. An educated nation cannot be deceived to do something that will harm its people”, he said.
The NNPP governorship candidate also identified mismanagement and misuse of resources as the bane of the nation, saying that the citizens must be inquisitive about how the available little resources had been utilized.
His PDP counterpart said his administration would prioritize an agricultural revolution through which thousands of unemployed youth could be meaningfully engaged.
Abdullahi told the gathering that the state was blessed with untapped natural resources but only take leaders with vision and passion for development to ascertain the hidden treasure.
He stated that the health sector should also be improved upon because it is key to having healthy citizens.
The PDP governorship candidate said, “Creation of jobs is very central if we want to take Kwara to a greater height. We are going to enrich the people and bring prosperity to Kwara. This has been our focus since a long time ago.”
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