BY ANKELI EMMANUEL, Sokoto
Ahead of the March 18, 2023, Governorship and Houses of Assembly elections, Sokoto State gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Hon Saidu Umar (Ubandoma Sokoto) has appealed to the electorate in the state to not only come and vote but also to ensure that their votes count.
Ubandoma, who pleaded for peaceful conduct before, during and after the elections, reminded the electorate that part of his priority is to ensure that the state meets up with international standards in development index if elected.
“We will not want to go below any standard despite being conservative about our religion, norms, culture and beautiful traditions.
“”But ours will be different by ensuring that by the time we leave office, we will want to see our youths and the population of the state more productively engaged, healthier and happier.”
While stressing that his government will ensure absolute transparency, Ubamdoma added that, “we will work very hard to ensure that whatever we are doing is measurable by acceptable standards.”
Talking on how he intends to boost the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the State if elected governor, the PDP governorship candidate said, they will devise several means but without causing pains to the people of the state.
According to him, despite the very low IGR and poor economy, they will not push people to the wall in the name of increasing taxes.
“Though, that does not mean we will not collect tax, but we will deploy the best alternative by rolling out investments that are revenue yielding.
“In the past years, government are being discouraged from being run like the private sector. But we will run ours like the private sector with several investments that will bring sustainable revenues for the State.
‘That is one of the many ways we feel our IGR can be improved upon. We do not have to completely depend on the monthly FAAC. Therefore, we are going to invest heavily in the private sector where we can generate revenue to assist us in running our government.
“This investment in the private sector either in the form of Private Public Partnership (PPP) will not only help in revenue generation for the government but it will also help reduce unemployment as these private sector organisations will engage many from the state directly or indirectly to work and earn a decent living.”
Looking at the outcome of the February 25 Presidential elections in Sokoto where his party despite being in power at the state level was able to win with a not too impressive margin, Saidu Umar advised the electorate to vote rightly to help reduce invalid votes.
He also tasked the people of the state to ensure that their votes count to the last point of declaration.
