The Labour Party governorship candidate for the 2023 polls in Ebonyi State, Architect Edward Nkwegu, has pledged to create over 250,000 jobs in his first two years in office if he wins in the 2023 general election in the State.
The candidate made the commitment while addressing newsmen on Monday in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
He lamented the high level of poverty in the State occasioned by massive unemployment and low human empowerment indexes, stressing that he intends to fight poverty by creating flourishing environment for Micro, Small and Medium enterprises in the State.
Nkwegu, who identified hunger as the remote underlying factor aggravating insecurity in the country, maintained that his political aspiration is a project of saving Ebonyi State.
Nkwegu stated: “My understanding of leadership is to come and solve problems.
“Anybody that says we don’t have challenges in Ebonyi State is economical with the truth.
“There is poverty in the land and even the Bureau of Statistics in their data, said that the poverty rate in Ebonyi is about 70 per cent.
“Unemployment rate in the state is also very high.
“A lot of people are jobless in the state.
“We also have challenges in Agriculture.
“Ebonyi is blessed with many mineral deposits but they have not been harnessed.
“So, there is the need to harness them.
“These are the things I will solve.”
The LP governorship flag bearer flayed individuals and political parties who perpetrate violence in the State, attacking opponents and destroying their billboards, and enjoined his supporters not to get involves in any kind of violence for him.
Nkwegu opined that a departure from political primitivism was the only guarantee for a positive change, which he aspires to bring to bear in the governance of the State.
“I don’t want violence to be recorded for me throughout my life and after,” Nkwegu maintained.
Recall that recently, suspected thugs of the ruling All Progressives Congress allegedly attacked the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance on his way from campaign in Izzi Local Government Area of the State.
There have also been reported cases of damage of bill boards and posters of opposition parties in the State as well as attack on some social gatherings.