By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

Governorship candidate of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) in Kwara state in the 2023 general elections, Alhaji Waziri Yakubu Gobir, has promised to make poverty reduction and creation of job opportunities through agriculture major policy thrusts of his administration if given the mandate.

Speaking in Ilorin, the state capital, while flagging off his governorship campaign, the YPP flag bearer said his development agenda would target the youth population, who, he noted, are half of the total population in the state.

Waziri Gobir, who said only about 10 percent of the population are in the state’s civil service, stated that his administration would encourage job creation through mechanised agricultural revolution, especially among the youths, towards reducing prevalent poverty in the state.

The YPP governorship candidate criticised the present government in the state over infrastructure development, saying, “what is the benefit of a visual centre, or esoteric bridge, when the food basket areas of the state are not accessible?”.

“Kwara state is one of the largest producers of soya beans in the country. The soil is good for its cultivation. Soyabean, a category A Product in the ‘Zero Oil Plan’ of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) trades over $100 billion and Nigeria’s target share of the market is 5% amounting to $5 billion.

“We need to create wealth through agriculture. Most communities where farming is taking place are not accessible. There are no good roads, schools and health facilities that could make living comfortable for the inhabitants thereby halting rural urban migration.

“We need to attract both local and foreign investments in agriculture to our state to improve the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) and socioeconomic development of the state. It’s high time the state moved from subsistence farming to mechanised agricultural revolution to help the populace.”

The governorship candidate, who promised to make judicious use of the common wealth of the people, said a government only needed to borrow to invest and not for consumption.

Talking on his chances among other governorship candidates in the state, Alhaji Waziri Gobir said his chances are in the hands of God and the electorate, adding that people should not make mistake of electing bad leaders as in the past.

“Mistakes made in the past can be corrected now. This is the opportunity. This time around, it’s not about the party, but the personality that is credible enough and trusted. People should look at attributes of each of the candidates to make the right choice,” he added.

On the prevalent security challenge in the state, the governorship candidate said traditional rulers, vigilance groups and community leaders in various communities should be utilised to complement formal security system to address the ugly development.