The Labour Party (LP) candidate for Nov. 8 Anambra governorship election, Dr George Muoghalu, says he will restore people’s confidence in government if elected the next governor of the state.
Muoghalu gave the pledge in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
He pledged to change the narratives in governance by prioritising human and infrastructural development in the state.
“I am going to change the narratives in a lot of ways; I will restore the confidence of the people in their government, which I think is lacking now.
“I’m going to address the issue of agricultural development, youth and women empowerment and children’s education.
“There are many things that can be done, most importantly, I am going to address frontally the issue of insecurity,’’ he said.
Muoghalu also promised to reform the state civil service to make it vibrant, competitive and attractive.
“I’ve always looked at it that for you to have a vibrant civil service, you must make your civil service comparable to the private sector.
“You must make it attractive so that professionals, young ones coming out of universities will be excited to go into the public and civil service.
“How would someone want to go to civil service and put his best when, if he retires, his gratuity is not paid; when he retires, his pensions are not paid and government is piling pension debts? It shouldn’t be so.
“Those debts must be addressed and government must pay a living wage to make the job attractive,’’ he said.
The governorship candidate said that he would make civil servants and the civil service functional by ensuring that the right manpower, equipment and technology were provided.
“It is not a situation where you have five drivers to one vehicle and then you say you employed them and they don’t want to work. Or you have four typists/secretaries to one computer unit. It doesn’t make sense.
“You must streamline and restructure your civil service so that the best hands would be put there to do the work.
“Once it is organised, using technology, proper biometrics, everybody’s assignment clearly spelt out, you will enjoy being in the civil service,’’ he said.
The former Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), however, advised the people of Anambra to consider the antecedents of all the governorship candidates before casting their votes during the election.
He said that antecedents and level of trust in each candidate would help the people to determine which one should be entrusted with their mandate to lead the state in the next four years.
“My antecedents will give you a reason to believe what I speak. If I am seen as somebody who means and acts what he says, people will believe me.
“But if you are seen as somebody who cannot be trusted, then you have a challenge. Whatever you say, they will not believe it.
“So trust is a key factor. And trust is earned, it is not given. And I believe I have earned that trust of the people.
“My antecedent is available for everybody to see – my political antecedent, my antecedent in the private sector, my antecedent in the public sector, they are all there for everybody to see,’’ he said.(NAN)
