TEXT OF SPEECH DELIVERED BY DR. SAMUEL ORTOM AT THE OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE ORTOM/ABOUNU CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATION AT SMILEVIEW HOTEL, MAKURDI, ON FEBRUARY 26, 2015

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TEXT OF SPEECH DELIVERED BY DR. SAMUEL ORTOM AT THE OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE ORTOM/ABOUNU CAMPAIGN ORGANIZATION AT SMILEVIEW HOTEL, MAKURDI, ON FEBRUARY 26, 2015

[PROTOCOLS]

My great people of Benue State!

We are running out of time!

We are running out of time and the people cannot wait to change their living conditions. Gone are the days when leaders turned their people into beggars and tamed them with the cliché, “a beggar has no choice”. Yes our people may have been turned into beggars but they have already made their choice to cast their lot with us because we have also chosen to end their needless suffering.

Our people are very realistic, they are not expecting miracles from us, all they expect of us is to keep the doors of the administration open for their meaningful contribution to leadership, give them access to information on government activities, open up the economic space for their participation and provide linkages for existing endeavours to increase capacity and productivity. The well-informed people of Benue state know that once this foundation is laid, they will create jobs for themselves, increase productivity, expand their market outreach and enhance their earnings.

Nigeria is waiting for Benue to provide her with the needed food supply. It is no longer a secret that our soil is the most suitable to grow all our food requirements. This natural endowment places us ahead of our right of place and enjoy the benefits that accrue there from. Once our earnings from agriculture begin to increase, the logical corollary will be a revolution in the food processing industry.

We are taking deliberate steps to remodel our education. Our education will be tailored along our short term and long term interests. We must first establish what our needs are then train people suitable to drive the goals. This means, ours graduate must know where they will be absolved before going into his first class in the university or vocational training institute. This will create focused technicians, administrators or medical personnel.

The reason why our security continues to be a perennial challenge is not farfetched; our energetic youthful population is not involved in productive sector of the economy, hence disused energies are deployed into sinister endeavours. We have discussed with youths and we know that they also have ambitions to settle down to family life and run business of their own instead of other people’s.

We have assembled a team of tried and tested technocrats, researchers, technicians and successful entrepreneurs to drive these policies. We also ask our merciful father to grant us speed to meet the yearnings of our teeming population. They have waited long enough, they deserve a better deal, and they are looking up to us to make it happen and soon.

I will not end this speech without cautioning our teeming supporters to remain focused on our mission and be civil as we make our final appeal to the people of Benue state to give us their votes. We call on our supporters to show restraint in the face of intimidation and provocation. The way to Government House Makurdi should start with discipline and love.

Thanks you again for taking out time to be part of this press event.