The Alliance for Democracy (AD) governorship candidate in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, has said that the state is worst hit by the present economic recession due to lack of deliberate efforts by the Olusegun Mimiko administration to lead in industrial drive.
Oke said the effect of the present economic recession was worsened in Ondo State with refusal of the state government to save for the rainy day by frittering away all revenues that had accrued to it in the last seven and half years.
According to him, the present administration squandered the resources of the state and the funds it borrowed from the capital market and other sources in addition to killing all avenues to generate money and left the state and its people in abject poverty.
The AD candidate, speaking during a meeting with a youth group, Concerned Ondo State Youths, in Akure, the state capital, said youths were worst hit as a vast majority of them remained unemployed and victims of social vices.
He said: “Any state where there is no production and commerce is at low ebb as Ondo State suffers poverty, hence the large scale unemployment, huge indebtedness of the state government and inability to pay workers’ salaries for an upward of six months”.
The AD flagbearer, who said: “Ondo State has no business with joblessness and poverty in view of its endowment”, listed moribund and abandoned agro-allied industries and life-transforming projects in the state to include Olokola project; Cocoa Processing Company, Ile Oluji; Cassava Processing, Ikoya; Fisheries, Akure; and Alfa 3D, Ikare Akoko.
He charged the younger generation not to shirk in their responsibility to ensure good governance through voting in the candidate that could change the fortunes of the state positively at the polls.
Oke, who described himself as God-sent to save Ondo state from collapse, lamented that life is hard for people of the state at present owing to the deliberate policies of the state government to kill industrialisation and that of the Federal Government which resulted in hike in the prices of good and commodities.
“The leadership has been tyrannical because there is no one to challenge those in positions. The leadership is lacking in vision and direction, hence the inability to harness the vast resources of the state for the benefit of the people. But I see light at the end of the tunnel. Ondo State will sing a new song again.
“I will transform the state from its present mono eco-economy to multi-economy through diversification into agro-business, employment generation and industrialisation through provision of necessary conducive environment to attract investors and capacity-building-driven education,” Oke said.
