Gubernatorial aspirant in Anambra State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Valentine Ozigbo, has decried the high level of debt profile of the state under the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).
Ozigbo, who quoted Debt Management Office at a press conference, said the state’s debt profile has risen by 1,600 percent since Obiano became the governor of the state.
- Amotekun goes berserk, kills 11 in 3 weeks
- President Buhari, Oby Ezekwesili and the Kankara schoolboys
He said the government had mortgaged the future of the state by the high debt profile.
According to him, the most annoying thing was that the infrastructure on ground in the state did not justify the sum already borrowed since 2014.
“Anambra’s debt profile under this government presided by chief Willie Obiano has risen by 1,600 per cent since this administration came in 2014.
“For bankers like us, we like to make meaning of numbers,” he said.
Ozigbo, who is the immediate past president of the Trans-National Corporation, Transcorp, said he was in the race to lead Anambra State to the path of greatness again, insisting that if Anambra makes a mistake in the next election about who governs her, she will regret it for many years.
“I’m in the governorship race because I want our story to change.
“I am here because I’m not satisfied with the status-quo.
“We need to change the way people look at politicians.
“We need to change the way people see Anambra.
“I’m convinced that I have the capacity to bring the kind of change we yearn for.
“I want to be the answer to the prayer of the poor masses for a good leader.
“I have the capacity, and not just my ability to do it alone, but being personally authentic and the humility to admit what I do not have, and what I do not know.
“The problem we have is that we have too many people who think they know it all.
“What I don’t know, I know where to get someone who knows it.
“I have emotional intelligence skill that will enable me to harness the innate values and inspire people to greatness. I am grateful to God for it.
“I want to tell Anambra people that we must be careful in choosing the next governor of the state.
“If you enthrone incompetency in the next person that will be governor, it will be a recipe for disaster,” he stated.
According to ozigbo, he was coming to governance with a rich private sector experience and a strong determination to fix Anambra State.
He said fixing Anambra would entail first giving Onitsha its befitting place as the commercial hub of the south-east, insisting that Onitsha held the key to the development of the south-east, economically.
He said: “Anambra needs a competent and transformational leader to fix the mess, to catch up with the rest of the world, and by God’s grace, I’m eminently equipped with competency, capacity, respect, compassion and ability to navigate through the myriad of issues bedevilling our dear state.”
