7% of Enugu residents are poor – APC Governorship candidate

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State, Barrister Okey Ezea, on Tuesday vowed to tackle “debilitating” poverty in the state, saying available records show that 57 per cent of the citizens are poor.

Ezea spoke while presenting his manifesto to journalists at the APC secretariat in Enugu, where he vowed that he would not repay loans that were mismanaged by the Governor Sullivan Chime administration, should he succeed him in office.

He also said there was infrastructural poverty in the state, a situation which he promised to address if elected.

“The poverty level in Enugu State is debilitating with 57 per cent of the citizens of Enugu State rated as poor.

“There is infrastructural poverty through the lack of the most basic amenities – potable water, electricity and shelter.

“There is poverty of the pocket that translates to the growing incidence of hunger as a result of lack of employment opportunities and economic growth.

“Pensioners drop dead in long queues while waiting for meagre handouts that never come,” Ezea said.

The APC governorship candidate said the high level of poverty has contributed to criminal activities in the state.

According to him, “Young men finish apprenticeship training as mechanics, furniture makers and tailors but end up as Okada riders because they cannot raise the money to set up their own business.

“Young graduates are forced into a life of crime because there are no employment opportunities and there are no industries to generate jobs and grow the economy.

“Youths have grown more sophisticated in crimes such as thuggery, kidnapping, assassination, 419, armed robbery, drug peddling and prostitution.

“All these have laid the foundation for a greater evil – the poverty of morals. As men’s souls are put in the crucible, social norms and ethics become luxuries only a few can afford.”

Ezea stressed that his decision to seek the mandate to govern Enugu State was borne out of a firm and sincere conviction that the level of poverty in the state has assumed human disaster proportions “that only radical economic and political actions can redeem.”

Also at the event, Mrs Juliet Ibekaku, a lawyer, was presented as Ezea’s running mate.

She also emphasised that an APC administration will address poverty in the state.