By Chris Ezeonoh, Port Harcourt,
Governorship candidates of the frontline political parties in the March 18 governorship election in Rivers State were conspicuously absent at the well-publicized Governorship debate organized by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ) Rivers State chapter on Tuesday.
Six out of the seven governorship candidates standing election in the state had indicated interest to participate in the debate according to a statement earlier issued by the NUJ, but only the candidates of Boot party, Tekena Iyagba, Accord party, Dumo Lulu-Briggs and Action Alliance, Dawari George honoured the debate.
The candidates of PDP, Sir Siminilayi Fubara, APC, Pastor Tonye Cole, Labour, Comrade Beatrice Itubo and SDP, Senator Magnus Abe failed to show up nor send proxies.
In his address of welcome, State chairman of NUJ, Stanley Job Stanley said the task to organize the debate was to send a strong signal that journalists were ready to hold leaders, particularly the governorship candidates accountable to the manifestoes they would unveil before Rivers people at the debate.
He maintained that it would no longer be business as usual for political office holders in the state as journalists would put them on their toes by organizing an Accountability forum where the politicians would be made to render accounts of their stewardship.
The NUJ chairman tasked the candidates on open budget principles, urging them to embrace global best practices in all they do if elected into office.
He underscored the urgent need to strengthen government-owned media organizations in the state to make them more result oriented and also boost the morale of the workforce.
Job used the occasion to present a compendium of requests, tagged ‘Charter of Demand’ on behalf of the union to the candidates and urged them to study it with a view to integrating them into their manifestos for implementation should they emerge as governor.
The chairman made it clear that the union did not request assistance of any kind from either the political parties or the candidates towards the hosting of the debate.
According to him, only News Africa-London, Kebetkache-Nigeria and Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Eco assisted the union towards the hosting of the debate.
Meanwhile, the governorship candidates have lamented the parlous state of Rivers economy, saying unemployment and poverty now stalk the people in a state where no one should have been crying for lack of jobs or means of livelihood.
The candidates who looked at the situation from different perspectives also proffered different approaches through which they would reverse the trend if elected.
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Dawari George of the Action Alliance said that Rivers State is under a siege of poverty and unemployment occasioned by perennial mono-economy that has remained the order of the day over the years in the state.
He said that he would evolve a system that would encourage mass participation of people in building a new Rivers State of everybody’s dream.
Dumo Lulu-Briggs of the Accord party said he would build an economy that would be all-encompassing centered on creating multi-billion dollar investment in agric and tourism.
Tekena Iyagba of the Boot party said he would embark on structural empowerment, using the moribund Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency, (RSSDA) to provide loans to empower the youths to be self-employed.
The candidates have a common belief that the issue of insecurity in the state would be addressed when people are put into where they could eke a meaningful living.
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