Abia Guber: Prof Ikonne to adopt “people influenced module” to address dearth of infrastructure in state.

Chinwe Ugele, Umuahia

In what appears to be a complete departure from the old style adopted by the present and past governors of Abia state, the PDP guberntorial candidate, Prof. Uche Ikonne says if elected governor in 2023, his government will only site projects chosen by communities in their domain.

This module according to Prof. Ikonne will easily address the priorities of communities in the state instead of embarking on projects that will not have any direct impact on the people.

He said he intends to synergise with the development unions of every community to make it easier for government and communities.

The guberntorial hopeful who disclosed this to bloggers at his campaign headquarters in Umuahia, said he also plans to fully build and realise the Abia capital city around Amakama in Umuahia South LGA originally envisaged by the founding fathers of the state and contained in the Abia charter of equity.

On payment of salary, Prof. Ikonne hinted that he already has figured out how to clear the arrears of pension owed pensioners and all outstanding salaries of every worker in the state within his first six months in office.

As a former Vice Chancellor of Abia state university, Uturu and Rector, Abia state Polytechnics, Ikonne plans to leverage on his experiences from both positions to develop the state as he said “Abia cannot remain timid after my service.”

Though he is yet to make his manifesto public, he however gave a snippet of it when he said his administration would set up a special commission -Aba Development commission to handle the issues of Aba. The commission he said will be empowered to collect taxes from the entrepreneurs which will in turn check multiple taxation.

He also wants to build a second international market in Aba to decongest Ariaria international market.

One of his many dreams is to set up an “Elder’s village” where the sons and daughters of Abia who retire from active service can actually find comfortable and reside in rather than staying in other cities.

Prof. Ikonne who described himself as the most eminently qualified candidate for the number one seat in the state, however agreed that the other candidates are also qualified. He doesn’t think anyone of them is fit enough to cow him.