Edo 2024: I’m not coming to experiment but deliver, says Agba as he submits forms

Edo 2024: I’m not coming to experiment but deliver, says Agba as he submits forms

Joel Oladele, Abuja

One of the aspirants jostling for the ticket of All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of  Edo governorship election, Clem Agba, has described himself as a man with vast experience required for the transformation of the state.

Agba who was at the party’s National Secretariat on Wednesday for the submission of his nomination and expression of interest forms told newsmen that the state doesn’t need a greenhorn as governor but someone who can hit the ground running.

The former Minister of State for Budget and National Planning under Buhari’s administration noted that a leader must be driven by empathy and that is only possible if such a leader can relate with the needs of the people.

“I think in a nutshell one has captured it. You know, as Edo is the heartbeat of Nigeria and they do require someone with experience. Someone with the right competencies. Someone who has the knowledge of the organized private sector and also the public sector. Someone who has worked at the sub national level and also at the national level.

“Someone who understands and was dealing with multilateral agencies and doing all the negotiations for the government, someone who handled all the donor aids that were coming to the country. Would that not be a right man to govern the state? Do we need someone that will come and experiment, some will say that they have been in the organized private sector all their life. 

“But like I said, in the public sector, the scenario is totally different. You’re not looking at the bottom line. So you’re gonna take 2,3,4 years to begin to learn and treat people like machines, there will be no empathy. The governor requires empathy. You have to feel your people. It’s not about projects that you do. It’s about the impact of the projects that you are doing. It’s about doing NEEDS analysis. 

“Even if you have a PhD, or you think you know it all. You really don’t know what the community wants except you engage them. And that’s what we’ll be coming with, engaging the people to know their pain points. Yes, they need roads, they need water, they need light, but which one do they need the most? That’s what will be given.” Agba told newsmen.

Speaking on his agenda christened ‘TRUST Initiative’, Agba said he will be committed to transforming rural and urban spaces as both are interwoven and important for the overall development of any state.

“Abraham Maslow talks about the hierarchy of needs. So a man cannot be talking about self actualization or self esteem. When he has not put food in his stomach. He cannot talk about self actualization or self esteem when he has no shelter, when he has no shelter. 

“For me, what I’m bringing to the table is what I call the TRUST initiative. Some people call it the TRUST agenda, but whatever you want to call it, we want to transform our rural urban spaces together. That’s what TRUST means to me.

“ If you’re developing the urban areas, you should simultaneously be developing the rural areas. You should be providing access roads especially around the agro corridors. So that 60% that goes to waste, which is a low hanging fruit will be recovered not mechanization, I hear people talking about tractorization. You buy more tractors, you get more improved yields, you increase the acreage and the result will be that you are increasing the percentage of harvest losses. 

“Until we deal with the issue of access to market for these products, which has to do with ensuring that there are roads, either for the farmer to get to the market or the market to come to the farmer and ensuring that there is power. I’m not talking about the national grid. I’m talking about captive power. So once you have captive power available, you’ll find that cottage industries begin to develop around these farm settlements. What will happen is people will set up storage facilities, others will begin to set up processing facilities,” he stated.

Asked if he’s the party’s anointed candidate, Agba said even though he’s the best amongst the aspirants across parties, he would not want to call himself anointed candidate because if it were so, there won’t be need for him to campaign.

“If I were the anointed, do I need to go about campaigning?  I will sit at home and wait for the coronation. But I know I have to sell myself to the people. And because our people could be forgetful, I had to remind them of the things that I did. I know I am the best among them. And in all the parties. I am not talking about APC now. Because I see all the contenders across the parties. Why do you think I am the only one under attack? Why am I the only one that is the godson? It is because no one throws stones at a tree that has unripe fruits,” Agba claimed.