Why Nigerians must vote for change – Ahmed

“The system requires change at federal level from what we have today if we must improve on service delivery to Nigerians. Our people are not in Abuja; our people are in states and local governments”, he said.Speaking at the debate organised for governorship candidates by labour unions in the state, the governor said there was […]

“The system requires change at federal level from what we have today if we must improve on service delivery to Nigerians. Our people are not in Abuja; our people are in states and local governments”, he said.
Speaking at the debate organised for governorship candidates by labour unions in the state, the governor said there was need to have a federal government that is supportive of states and local governments, adding, “the only system that can do this is change. The current system has been there for six years, it cannot do it.”
He also stressed the need to use the permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) for the forthcoming elections.
This is the only way to have credible elections, Ahmed said, adding that Nigerians must insist that their votes count.
Daily Trust reports that the debate was initially fixed for penultimate week attended by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Senator Simeon Ajibola fuelling speculation that the governor avoided the workers.
However, Ahmed denied the insinuation, saying his absence was due to the National Council of State meeting which he had to attend in Abuja. He assured that he would always be available to discuss governance.
He challenged his opponents to come out with programmes, policies and the strategies they want to use in financing those programmes in view of the present dwindling allocations.
Ahmed explained that in 2011, the state’s allocation stood at over N3.1bn with monthly commitments of N2.8bn, lamenting that the allocation had drastically reduced to N2.2bn while the commitments have remained the same.
He promised to improve on his performance if re-elected, adding that free meals would be introduced in primary schools.
“We have them because we have been tested and we can do it better. We are not into rhetoric, we are talking from pragmatic perspective. We would be improving on our internally generated revenue management process which would create for us additional room for us to access fund in the capital market”, he said.