Benue 2023: Aondoakaa Speaks on Economy, Security, Says He Will Grow Benue’s GDP and Per Capita Income Into Reality
Chief M. K Aondoakaa, SAN
19th April, 2022
©Dam Obed, Media and Publicity
A Governorship hopeful on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Michael Aondoakaa, SAN has pledged to focus on the economy by growing the Benue State’s GDP and per capita income into reality.
Aondoakaa stated this yesterday, 18th April, 2022, when he was hosted on a political conversation personality Radio Programme in Makurdi on Brothers FM 90.5.
He said: “My interest is always the economy because Benue has been a vibrant State. Benue is a component state in Nigeria…so, if you are going to grow the economy in Benue you must have a general framework of the economy of the country and know exactly where the strength comes in the economy, and then take advantage of it. The advantage is always in Benue’s favour.
“As of 2021, the totality of the economy, people think it is oil but the non-oil sector contributed 92.76% to the GDP of Nigeria, meaning the totality of buying and selling activities in Nigeria occurred more in the non-oil sector. It translated to a total of 72.39 trillion naira. If you look at this sector, the one most relevant to Benue state is Agriculture, which happens to have the highest contribution to the overall GDP of Nigeria with a contribution of 25.9%. Mathematically, agriculture alone contributed 18.96 trillion. If that is what happened, it means Benue is suppose to have a fair share of that. It means that the economy of Benue is suppose to be as strong as being an economy of not less than 20 Billion US Dollars.
He continues: “The whole country says we are the food basket. If we grow our economy in reality to a GDP of 526 Billion in Benue, everybody will be happy. What then is the problem if agriculture is contributing majorly to GDP in Nigeria? What is wrong that Benue people are the poorest? The challenge is lack of capacity to remit the GDP and the Per capita income into reality. There is a disconnect to what is given. My aim therefore, is that if I am made the governor, I will try to grow the economy into reality; the GDP and the per capita income into reality by 20% every year,” he declared.
If elected into office, Aondoakaa promised to bring a socio-economic re-engineering governance process that will focus on training and retraining Benue people on modern ways of agriculture at local and state government levels, as well as reactivating agricultural centers by moving them to technology-based agriculture, which includes improved seeds, and hooking them up to marketing portfolios in and out of the country for them to make money.
The Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice also promised to tackle the problem of water for agricultural industries to thrive and attract investors, stating that water and light are basic considerations of any agricultural investor and pledged to continue work on the abandoned Otukpo Dam construction project through the lobbying efforts of Senator David Mark, noting that:
“There may be difficulties in withdrawing the remaining money, may be because of political issues, but I know that other states that are not in the same political party with the Federal Government are making efforts to get what is theirs. What I will do is to impress on our Representatives in the Senate. All I need to do is to give them a strong support to lobby the Federal Ministry of Finance to access the balance of the two hundred million out of the three hundred million dollars released by World Bank for the project,” he said.
Aondoakaa also indicated that if elected, he would meter the trailers at Dangote Cement for the state, and that he would revise the Anti-open grazing law to cater for compensation to farmers through collaboration with security agencies .
“My interest will be to create a win-win situation. First is to protect the farmer. My interest is not to arrest cows but the compensation to farmers whose crops are destroyed by trespassers who willfully grazes on a farmland which is fully cultivated. A trespasser could by anybody and must pay intstantly.
“The remedy is not for the state to earn money but compensation to the farmer will be my focus. I will not entirely focus on arrest and detention if cows. If anyone creates an infraction, the minimum compensation depending on the damage will not be less than 300,000. I will create deterrence that will be more than arrest by Livestock Guards through collaboration with the security agencies that come from Abuja. Livestock Guards will work under the supervision of the security agencies. They cannot operate independently because the law that gives right to firearms is vested with the Federal government,” he stated.
He spoke on a variety of issues, including the need for Benue to own a mini-airport, establish or reactivate primary healthcare in the 276 council wards, make all the general hospitals in the state’s 23 LGAs and existing teaching hospital functional to boost life span, encourage the full takeoff of teaching hospital services in the Federal University of Health Otukpo and University of Mkar, among other things.
