Bayelsa guber: George-Ikoli, Oliver pledge job creation, educational revolution if elected

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

Ahead of the Bayelsa governorship election slated for November 16, former Attorney General of the state and Commissioner for Justice, Barrister Anthony George-Ikoli has pledged his readiness to leverage on the state’s comparative advantage in deep sea resources to revamp it’s economy if given the opportunity.
Similarly, a female governorship aspirant from Bayelsa State, Tariela Oliver yesterday obtained the PDP nomination and expression of interest forms, promising to empower women and youths of given the mandate by electorate to govern the oil rich state.
George-Ikoli, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, who is seeking the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stated this yesterday in Abuja while answering questions from newsmen shortly after obtaining his expression of interest and nomination forms at the party’s national secretariat, Abuja.
Highlighting the role of education as driver of any nation’s economy, the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife-trained legal luminary, promised to prioritize science and technology.
He similarly stressed the important need for the recruitment of well-trained teachers for the transmission of knowledge across different schools of learning in the state.
According to him, “My administration will work tirelessly to exploit areas where our state has a clear competitive advantage in agriculture and aquaculture.
“It is my belief that we can earn substantial income from industrial seafood and cash crop processing,” he said.
Continuing, he said “educational revolution through a total overhaul of formal instruction methodologies with special emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM,” would mark the beginning of new direction aimed at excellence in manpower training.”
On whether he belonged to a favoured camp, the erudite lawyer denied knowledge of one, saying, “I am not aware of any camp in the PDP Bayelsa state chapter. I am prepared to take on this job and I will make the state the pride of all, if given the opportunity by my party.”
He was accompanied to the party’s secretariat by a mammoth crowd of supporters and political associates amidst drumming and singing.
The female aspirant, Oliver promised to explore the available natural resources in the state for the benefit of the people of the state.
Oliver, who is a human right activist, an actress and movie promoter pointed out that Bayelsa people have no reason to suffer considering the natural resources available to the state.