Braimoh: When I’m Governor Tourism‘ll Give Kogi Over N200bn Annually
From Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
The candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the November 11 governorship elections in Kogi State, Mr Olayinka Braimoh has said if he is elected, the state would generate over ₦200 billion annually from tourism alone.
Braimoh made this known last week when he visited the mountaintop of Agbaja Plateau in the Oworo district of Lokoja local government area, a distance of about 20km to the state capital and about 300 km to Abuja, the federal capital.
The governorship hopeful said if elected, he would make tourism one of his thematic areas of concentration which he would use to attract local and international visitors to generate huge revenue, attract investments to the state, and create employment opportunities for the teeming youths.
Braimoh had earlier visited Mount Patti which is 1,500 feet above sea level and where the first Governor-General of Nigeria, Lord Fredrick Lugard had his residence and rest room. He also visited the massive Omi Dam in Yagba West local government area and the Confluence Centre, Lokoja where the River Niger and River Benue meet, among others
Braimoh said he was always pained and in great distress to see Kogi State being labeled as poor and its citizens wallowing in squalor and excruciating poverty despite the huge resources and opportunities in the state that can be converted to wealth to better the lots of the masses.
According to him, if allowed to govern the state, he would put smiles on the faces of the residents by turning these sites into money-making ventures which by projection will attract no fewer than two million tourists to the state yearly in the next three to four years and this will translate to selling 10 million nights annually, thereby generating trillions of Naira within the state.
The AA governorship candidate said the state was suffering due to a lack of visionary leadership and said development does not occur by wishful thinking or happenstance but by co-ordinated, intentional and multifaceted approach initiated by creative leadership, which he said he was ready to provide.
He said Dubai was a desert but was converted to a tourists centre by a visionary leader stressing that if elected he would build International resort centres, Golf courses, holiday inns, and conference and retreat centres on both Mount Patti and the Agbaja Plateau which will rake in millions of dollars to the state.
He said Omi dam will be converted into an irrigation Centre where farming activities will take place and millions of tons of parboiled rice and other farm produce will be processed and sold locally while the rest will be exported to other countries to generate revenue for the state.
In all these potential tourist sites, Braimoh added that he will create macamadised roads and build social amenities to open up the areas to the outside world which will, in turn, create employment opportunities and drive cash to the state with ordinary citizens being self-sufficient.
Braimoh who said he will create and distribute wealth to the people to develop the state and make it one of the best in the country added that God has given Kogi State all the necessary mineral deposits, tourists sites, and good topography such that the State has no business with poverty if a selfless leader with foresight is elected.
The Action Alliance governorship candidate, therefore, urged the people of Kogi State not to allow this opportunity to slip away again but urged them to look critically into the background of each governorship candidate and vote massively for the one who will create wealth and happiness and not those who will spread poverty and sickness.
