Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa has condemned the winner-takes-all attitude of politicians in the country saying such was responsible for the build up of tension as well as high rate of unemployment and poverty in the country.
He also lamented the often violent turn of elections in the country insisting that he was all for “free, fair and credible elections”
Okowa spoke on Wednesday in Asaba, at the maiden edition of Maris Annual Lecture, organised by the Maris Trust Council.
He said, “Particularly, the winner takes it all after every election builds up tension; it complicates situations and builds high rate of unemployment and poverty in our country.”
The theme of the lecture was “Managing Post-Election Challenges: Nigeria as Case Study.”
The governor, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Water Resources, Fidelis Tilije, described the theme and focus of the lecture as apt even as he opined that elections in the country should be free from all forms of hitches and promote peace which was necessary for development.
He pointed that every election must produce a winner and urged those dissatisfied with the outcome to seek redress through legitimate and legal means.
Gov. Okowa commended the organisers of the lecture for the initiatives and called Deltans in particular and Nigerians at large to embrace peace in their endeavours for the development of the state and the country.
The Guest Lecturer, Mr. Williams Makinde, Managing Director, Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission, DESOPADEC, also aligned with Gov. Okowa’s position that there was a relationship between post-election challenges in the country and poverty, unemployment and inequality, among other ills.
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He listed some of the post-election challenges in Nigeria to include economic, social, political and cultural challenges as well low Human Development Index, HDI.
Makinde said: “HID is the indicator of sustainable development; it is a summary measure for accessing long-term progress in three basic elements of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.
“To allow government address the challenges of the right type of development, the political elite, career politicians and all other rent-seeking stakeholders must manage their greed.
“There is enough to meet everybody’s need but there can never be enough to meet everybody’s greed.”
The discussants, Dr David Oba, Ms Faith Nwadishi, Sen. Stella Omu and Mr. Fred Majemite, all agreed that systems and institutional failure were responsible for post-election challenges.
Mr. Fidelis Egugbo, Secretary, Maris Trust Council, in a vote of thanks, said the council would be holding the lecture annually to discuss topical issues with a view to addressing challenges in the country.
The lecture had in attendance politicians from different political parties.
