LP aspirant, Aruna promises to enthrone all-inclusive, responsive gov't
A frontline gubernatorial aspirant for the governorship seat of Edo State, on the political platform of the Labour Party, LP, Dr. Aruna Braimoh Denzel Edmond, has declared that what the state needed to properly galvanize and harness its full potentials to actualize productive exploits for the benefit of the people was “a new type of politics and leadership direction .
He said such leadership will transcends beyond dividing the people in order to hold on to power,” emphasizing that his educational training, professional acquisitions and ideological mindset have equipped and fashioned him in readiness to provide that new leadership direction for the people of the state.
Speaking with our reporter recently Dr. Aruna emphasized that what he was bringing into the Edo political space was an all-embracing, selfless leadership, “an all-inclusive kind of politics, accountable and responsible political leadership that thinks more of what to do to take the people of Edo out of the current state of despair, deprivation, and extricate them from the malady of irresponsive and irresponsible governance, flayed by an inconsistent leadership style.”
While insisting that he chose to run for the governorship seat of the state on the platform of the Labour Party because it was the only unadulterated vehicular platform “of the moment, and the true party of the people,” Dr. Aruna lambasted the other two main political parties, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, for figuratively keeping “Edo people drenched under the umbrella, and the broom which have miserably become incapable of sweeping away wrong, old, antiquated political beliefs and practices that have kept our people in the dark ages over the years.”
The governorship aspirant, who hails from Edo North senatorial district, emphasized that his administration would be a collective, pro-people, team-playing and actively-mobile administrative structure that would give adequate and propelling priority to “building people and building capacities, which are key requirements for rapid growth, industrialization, social and economic development as well as improving the sense of wellbeing of all Edo people both at home and in the Diaspora.”
While remarking that it would be ridiculous for some persons to believe they could confront the harrowing realities of “a trained situational army of poverty, deprivation, bad leadership and a host of others, with a not-so-well-prepared army of Edo people,” Dr. Aruna, warned that “the world has moved on in several areas, spanning public administration, governance, leadership, health, science, human capital development and their various perspectives,” and insisted that “running government business does not only need to keep in tune with the current realities, but needs to actualize them using the best and most acceptable practices.”
In his words, “A veritable way to do this is to train, re-train and train, develop capacities, modernize governance and government, and re-galvanize leadership. Areas to prioritize are education, roads and infrastructure, security of life and property; encourage, demand and foster accountability by all and for all; develop systems that ensure real-time payment of salaries, gratuity and pensions; improve subsidized medical expenses and insurance for all, especially for women, the elderly, children and the vulnerable across Edo state; develop strategies and create systems that encourage and enhance industrialization across Edo state, and sustainably attract foreign investment among others.
We have a well-researched blueprint that when applied, will turn Edo State around for good beyond the imagination of small and limited minds who have continued to hold the people of Edo state hostage.”
The frontline aspirant assured Edo people of his commitment to delivering on his gubernatorial mandate because his capability emanates from his capacity, skills, practical knowledge and cognate experience built over time.
He spoke modestly about his professional acquisitions: “I have the requisite qualifications and didactic experiences, garnered over the years from working and real life situational influences. I am a multiple professional in the practical fields of economics, accounting, and taxation with roughly thirty years of experience-mix in the public and private sector of Nigeria economy, having been Head of Finance in a Public Limited company, Head of Treasury and Investment in a Finance company/bank, and over ten years’ experience in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy.
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“These positions were all at top-management levels; and I hold a professional doctorate in Economics. I will use my training and experience as an Economist to effectively manage the state's economy; use my training and experience, as a tax expert, to grow the internally-generated revenue (IGR) of the state; and use my training and experience, as a professional accountant, to show true accountability to my principal who are the great people of Edo State.”
While promising to enthrone a focused, well-oiled free education policy up to the senior secondary school level, Dr. Aruna insisted that deliberate efforts would be invested in revitalizing the informal education sector, where he plans to “regularize certification based on skill acquisition levels and proficiency, encourage regular training and re-training in the civil service, encourage same in the private and informal sectors, to engender higher creativity and competitiveness, which would ultimately lead to improved commercial activities and better standard of living across board.”
The gubernatorial aspirant agreed to the reality of security threat to the people of the state and remarked that there was already a workable blueprint to spearheading a holistic approach to mobilizing all and sundry to tackle it.
“Those who are security threats today,” he noted, “are not invisible or non-existent individuals and institutions. We need to refine our values as a people; we need to secure ourselves from our homes and from within our communities, from our streets and wards.
We need to protect ourselves from our neighborhoods while neighborhoods will be encouraged to network efficiently within themselves and among themselves. This way, most of our security challenges would be ameliorated and drastically reduced.
More importantly, social safety nets would be provided for the vulnerable in society to avoid situations that encourage threats to other community members or the society.”
While taking into cognizance the dire effects and consequences of an unsafe security environment to investment, industrialization and overall economic growth, Dr. Aruna postulated that there were identified enabling environments which his administration would encourage to re-fertilize and re-invigorate industrialization in the state, pointing out that the Edo state government-driven energy supply sector should be developed and expanded even more; this power supply should be directed to rural areas where investors can more easily set up industries, employ more people in rural communities where the cost and stress of living are lower and better.”
He assured that as a tax practitioner himself, he understood in clear terms the spiral effects of tax rebates on investors, and the debilitating effects of double taxation in any form, which should be discouraged and stopped, even as he insisted that his administration would rather grant tax incentives to investors for accelerated interest and encouragement.
This deliberate, investor-friendly policy mindset, he assured, would be complemented with an “all-year-round intra-state road maintenance which would be ensured and sustained, because with good roads people and raw materials can more easily get to where they are needed while it would be very easy to evacuate agricultural produce and industrial products to the various markets across the state and to other parts of the country.”
It would be recalled that Thursday, last week, the leadership of the Labour Party, Edo State, led by Kelly Ogbaloi, gave the nod to Dr. Aruna Braimoh to expressly join other aspirants to contest the party’s governorship ticket ahead of the 2024 Edo State gubernatorial election. Dr. Aruna, and a cross section of his supporters, were at the Ogbelaka street, Benin City, State Secretariat of the party to formally notify the state leadership of his preparedness to take part in the build up to picking the party’s gubernatorial candidate ahead of the state’s governorship election.
The event was a colourful and successful outing which further underscored the people’s love and appreciation for the aspiration of Dr. Aruna, who has continued to show decisive consistency in his desires to change the uninspiring narratives in the governance of the state for the collective good of the people of the state.