The Director-General of the Yenagoa Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (YECCIMA), Barrister Warmate Jones, is also the candidate of the Accord Party (AP) in the forthcoming November 11, 2023 Governorship Election.
A lawyer by training with vast knowledge, experience and expertise in several critical sectors of the Nigerian economy, Idikio said his primary purpose of joining the race for Creek Haven, the seat of power in Bayelsa State, is to develop a strong and sustainable economy for the true prosperity of Bayelsa State and its people.
Recent statistics indicate that Bayelsa, the oil rich state with a vast potential in agriculture, is the poorest among the 36 states of the country. One major reason for this is the absence of blueprints for the development of critical economic sectors in the state, but Idikio says all that can change with the implementation of a well-designed and detailed 30-year Bayelsa Economic Development Plan, which is a key aspect of Project Bayelsa, which he proposes to introduce if voted in as governor.
One of the challenges facing the state is the penchant for playing politics without a concomitant concern for the growth and development of the economy, thereby leaving critical sectors to grind to a halt hence the over reliance on monthly allocations from the Federation Account for sustenance.
Critically, Bayelsa, like several other states of the federation, is just surviving and until it begins to do critical analyses of the challenges confronting it in the critical sectors and does self-evaluation, things are likely to remain the same.
Idikio’s vision is to make Bayelsa the fastest growing economy by the year 2030. His mission is to improve the standard of living of one million Bayelsans in four years.
According to him, the strategy is to build the local economy on a tripod of, first, building a productive people, secondly, encouraging the building of strong businesses and industries and thirdly, build a strong economy for the creation and redistribution of wealth.
He postulates an Economic Development Blueprint based on the establishment of a trade centre to increase local production output and encourage economic cooperation with other economies.
He says that these are to be supported by an active “growth pole” focused investment policy to determine a holistic approach to turn the tide around and make the state the choice destination for investors and investments.
Idikio stressed that the trade policy is to encourage the localisation of production, establish a trade centre and encourage cross border trade.
Speaking on the philosophy behind his proposed 30-year Bayelsa State Economic Development Plan, Idikio stated that it demonstrates “the uncontroverted desire of all Bayelsans to deliberately work for the prosperity of the state through a well-designed, structured and documented approach and unbroken implementation by governments in partnership with the private sector, and indeed all Bayelsans.”
The broad-based outcome of the implementation of the development plan is to achieve critical market access, local technical capacity, financial growth, economic resilience and expansion and sustainability.
Idikio says, “The prosperity and development of Bayelsa State lies in the transformation of potentials and resources in building a strong, long term economy. This is the “New Paradigm.”
On his bid to usher in a new era of economic development in the state if elected governor, he vows, “I pledge my unalloyed support for the development of Bayelsa State and to do my very best in the simplest of ways to provide decent living and achieve prosperity for all.”
