By Magnus Effiong
After eleven years, Mrs Imah Nsa Adegoke has again declared her interest to govern Cross River state, saying that if voted into power, she would ensure a significant shift in socio-economic indices of the State.
Recall that the Odukpani-born Adegoke was the candidate of the Labour Party in the 2011 governorship election in which the immediate past governor, Liyel Imoke, won.
She indicated her determination to take over the plum job on Tuesday while consulting members of the State Working Committee of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in the party Secretariat in Calabar.
“My vision is to shift this cycle of injustice and inequity in the governance of Cross River State, using it as an example of what Nigeria can again become if the proper parameters of justice, equity and rightness are once more enshrined as the fulcrum of social engineering.
“To achieve this, there has to be a Paradigm shift which will be pursued through five programs and a defined agenda with the acronym SHIFT which stands for Schools, Hospitals, Infrastructure, Farms and Technology,” The head of the Imah Nsa Adegoke Foundation, stated.
The female gubernatorial aspirant also appealed to Nigerian males, who she said have occupied the governor seat for too long, to give women a chance to also showcase what they were capable of doing.
The one time chairman of Bonny Environmental Consultants’ Committee between 1997 and 2002, promised to put policies in place to address both the tangible and intangible aspects of infrastructure, besides setting up a functional laboratory to solve the issues of crimes.
She maintained that upon assumption of office, she would also would introduce backward integrated industrialization for agriculture whereby the state mineral resources could be harnessed for wealth creation.
Adegoke, who is regarded as the mother of widows across the 18 local government areas of the state due to her ability to impact on their lives, promised to transform the TINAPA Business and Leisure Resort to a technology park so as to boost the state tourism development which, she said, Cross River State was known for.
Responding, the chairman of the Cross River State chapter of the PDP, Venatius Ikem, expressed happiness with the kind of capacity exhibited by Adegoke, thanking her for not hiding on the guise of zoning and cardinal points to express her aspiration.
Ikem assured the aspirant of the party’s willingness to provide a level playing ground for all to participate in the process.
“As a democratic party, we are ready to offer a level playing field to all the aspirants, notwithstanding the gender or senatorial district,” Ikem said.
