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Hon. Chijioke Edeoga’s emergence as a leading contender for the Enugu Lion Building was not an accident. Over the years, the experienced administrator, community leader, lawyer, and journalist has been preparing for a time like this. Okaome as he is fondly called has a track record of excellence in all the positions he has been privileged to serve, including local government chairman of Isi Uzo, Member, House of Representatives, and two-term commissioner.

Edeoga understands the challenges of the state, having spent over two decades in executive and legislative positions. The Labour Party candidate for governor in Enugu state in 2023 says he will focus on four key goals if he is elected:

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1. Provision of Developmental Infrastructure

2. Job Creation

3. Social Services

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4. Comprehensive Public Service Reforms

Let’s take a look at what he intends to do in these four areas:

𝟏. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞

The provision of four elements of developmental infrastructure in the areas of internal security, food security, healthcare, and education are central to Chijioke Edeoga’s plan for “Ndi Enugu.” These four are very important because they are the basis on which all other development stands.

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𝐀. 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲

Security is no doubt the most important aspect of any development. Without security, no meaningful development can happen, and no investor will put his or her money in an area that is not safe.

In the past few years, Enugu State has been plagued by new and old threats to its security. There have been invasions by herdsmen, kidnappings, attacks by unknown gunmen, targeted killings, and robberies.

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Although Chijioke understands the constitutional limitations of a state governor in control of the security establishment, he believes a lot more can be done to ensure the safety of lives and property across the state. Chijioke says that the buck will stop at his desk and that he will do everything to ensure that Enugu becomes the safest and most peaceful state in Nigeria.

To achieve this, his administration will, among other things, do the following:

• Provide logistics and motivational support to the existing security establishments in the state.

• Reform the ‘Forest guard’ through training, provision of necessary equipment and motivation to enable them to deal with the current and emerging threats.

• Invest in security devices and other technologies to improve unmanned surveillance across the state, especially at the borders with other states.

• As the chairman of the State Security Council, work with every security establishment in the state to develop an effective intelligence-gathering strategy that will deter crime before it happens.

𝐁. 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐨-𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Food security is another sector that the Chijioke Administration plans to focus on. With a land mass of over 2700 sq km, Chijioke believes the state has all it takes to not just feed its citizens but to be a net exporter of food products to other parts of the country and beyond. To reach this goal, the Chijioke Administration will among other things focus on the following deliverables:

• A feasibility study of all of the local government areas to find the parts of crop and animal production where each LGA has a comparative advantage.

• Source for investors and development partners to help build agricultural value chains for rice, cashew, palm, cassava, and other areas of interest.

• Establish at least one crop processing zone in each LGA in partnership with the private sector. These zones will be built up with access roads, storage facilities, health centres, irrigation systems (if needed), and other kinds of infrastructure.

• Partner with agro-tech solution providers such as ZENVUS. This will help our farmers to know what crop to plant, when and how, which will positively improve crop yield.

• Facilitate access to cheap credit for agro-focused investments.

𝐂. 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞

Health, they say, is wealth, and this is why the Chijioke administration is planning to improve the quality of healthcare delivery across the state. No doubt, the state’s healthcare delivery has improved in recent years, but much still needs to be done in delivering quality and affordable healthcare to all Enugu citizens. To achieve this, the Chijioke administration, if elected, will do the following:

• Site a standard general hospital with the capability to provide secondary healthcare services in each LGA.

• Work with LGAs in rehabilitation and equipping primary health centres.

• Improve the infrastructure and manpower at Parklane Teaching Hospital and the newly established State University Hospitals to provide adequate tertiary healthcare services.

• Extend health insurance to the informal sector.

• Make Enugu one of the top three places in the country to go for high-quality, low-cost health care.

• Provide special health care for groups such as children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

𝐃. 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Chijioke Edeoga believes in the power of education to transform any society. As someone who has gone to some of the best schools in the world, like the University of Buckingham, where he got his Bachelor’s in Law, and the prestigious University of Liverpool, where he got his Master’s in International Law, Chijioke promises to build on the work of previous administrations and make Enugu’s education system the envy of all states in Nigeria. Some of his plans for the education sector include:

• Set up a visitation panel for every primary and secondary school in the state. This will help the state in planning a phased but total overhaul of the obsolete infrastructure in schools across the state.

• Provision of world-class learning facilities including classrooms, laboratories, Libraries, workshops, sports facilities, internet access, and many more.

• Overhaul the curriculum with emphasis on the inclusion of technology, coding, etc. with the aim of producing children who are more competitive globally.

• Continuous training and retraining of teachers on new teaching methodologies.

• Completion of the Enugu State University of Education, Awgu.

• Improving infrastructure and quality of teaching and learning in our higher institution through better funding, Linkages with other institutions abroad, and alumni Networks.

……to be continued…