…Chides Ize-Iyamu over Outdated, Controversial Manifesto

As leaders across the globe grapple with the economic realities occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and rejig policies to assuage its impact, Special Adviser to Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, has assured that a renewed mandate for Governor Godwin Obaseki will bolster the state’s economy to tackle the vagaries of the post-COVID-19 era.

Osagie who gave the assurance in Benin City on Tuesday, said that “the Edo State Governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming gubernatorial election has designed socio-economic policies which are contained in his Making Edo Great Again (MEGA) Manifesto that will address the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Osagie added: “Our manifesto is alive to the challenges of today and the future, with specific policies and programmes tailored to reflate and stimulate the state’s economy, unlike the Simple Agenda manifesto of the opposition party, which ownership is still a controversy and bereft of strategies to tackle the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”

According to Obaseki’s aide: “In our Manifesto, a section is devoted to Post-COVID-19 Economy. In that section, the governor said that he would be running a post-COVID-19 economy after the election.

“This would task our resolve to restart the economy even as we push for an economic stimulus package to resuscitate businesses, sustain livelihoods and hold the economy together.

“In essence, our focus would be on supporting businesses with low interest loan facilities; strengthening the productive sector by prioritising the Edo Production Hub Initiative and pursuing more impactful policies in the agricultural sector.

“The reforms in the Edo State College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Edo State College of Education would be sustained, even as we source for more partners to pull in resources to groom our youth for global competitiveness.

“We will leverage on our assets at the Edo Innovation Hub to migrate more of our people, especially workers and businesses to the digital space, because much of human activities will be done online going forward.

“We will increase investment in the health care system while ensuring the statewide roll out of a responsive and well-managed health insurance scheme”, he said.

Osagie challenged the APC candidate to tell Edo people the plans he has for the new Edo economy, foisted by COVID-19.

“There is no page in the so-called Simple Agenda, written by Dr. Don Pedro Obaseki, where a post-COVID economy was mentioned. Edo people will not vote for a candidate that is still dwelling on developmental issues of 2016, the year the Simple Agenda was written.

“The issues outlined in the Simple Agenda have long been overtaken by the reality of today and the future, which Obaseki calls a Post-COVID-19 Economy.

“Without much ado, Edo people know that Obaseki can be trusted with the management of the state’s economy as we have seen in the way he has kept the Edo economy together since the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, all through the lockdown period, and till date”, the governor’s aide noted.

Osagie then stressed that “Obaseki is an economist and an expert in resource management. He will not rely on consultants, like the candidate of the APC.”