2015: Ariyo Unveils Manifesto, Promises to Bring Social-Economic Development to His Constituency

By Francis Sadhere

The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Delta State House of Assembly, Warri South Constituency 1, Barrister Robinson Ariyo yesterday unveiled his political manifesto to the people of his constituency with a promise to bring social-economic development to his constituency through participatory approach.

The APC candidate, who reeled out his political manifesto to a large group of people from his constituency, assured them that to achieve a legacy of sustainable development across the constituency he is going to use participatory approach to ensure that the constituents are carried along in the prioritization, design, implementation, and evaluation of projects.

Barr. Ariyo said he will structure his activities within a distinct agenda that include an economic development agenda that will be focused on generation of sustainable economic opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprise, adding that there will also be a capacity agenda that will support institutional strengthening for local and community based organizations.

Barr. Ariyo, a human rights lawyer, added that he is also going to have a peace-building agenda that will foster stability in vulnerable and conflict impacted communities, together with an analysis and advocacy agenda that will seek to promote analysis, understanding and awareness of socio-economic needs in the constituency and identify strategies for addressing them.

He stressed that his mission statement is, “to develop and promote the relationship between the constituents and their representative in the House for a more people oriented and people centered policies and development process in Warri South Constituency 1, Delta State.”

Barr. Ariyo, who is ranked the most successful National Association of Itsekiri Students (NAIS) President, OAU Chapter, added that his vision is to promote and advocate the integration of gender participation and awareness of gender issues into projects design and implementation to foster equitable participation and benefits for both men and women.

He said he will ensure a regime of value proposition to open up the development space for corporate organizations operating in the constituency to partner in the socio-economic development of the constituency, adding that there will be a genuine relationship-building and development of partnership with foreign development organization in addressing the socio-economic needs of the constituency.

The APC Delta State House of Assembly candidate added that he is going to harness opportunities that will complement projects with additional socio-economic benefits, adding that development projects will be based on social research and peace building.

He pointed out that his strategic point agenda in achieving his vision, is to collaborate with the executive to foster sustainable development within the constituency and empower communities in his constituency to generate a broad range of support from government at other levels, non-governmental and international partners.

He also pointed out that he will collaborate with the executive to increase the capacity of key government and community organs at the grassroots level to generate sustainable development of the constituency, adding that he will also demonstrate how real collaboration between the various stakeholders can generate more effective results in addressing the community needs and development challenges.

Barr. Ariyo called on the people of his constituency to define the kind of change they want and ensure that the change they finally elect is the one they can trust and relate with harmoniously, stressing that he has no doubt in his mind that this time around the people will consider capacity, capability, antecedent and preparedness, to be subject of scrutiny of the common man and woman in the constituency as they go to the polls to elect their representatives.

According to Barr. Ariyo: “In our own peculiar case, there are many corporate organizations with robust corporate social responsibility annual budget which could easily be tapped into to augment scarce government resources with a view to bringing about the improvement of the living standards of the people of this constituency.”

Based on one of the most harmful errors the people of his constituency has made in the past, Ariyo shared this little arithmetic with his people: “There are 365 days in a year and 4 years in the tenure of a member of the House of Assembly. That means a total of 1,460 days in the 4 years. So when an aspirant gives you N50,000 to vote him in and for the next 4 years you cannot call him/her and/or talk to him/her and yet he is your representative; then remember that the N50,000 amounts only to N34.24 per day. This is far less than the one dollar poverty benchmark as prescribed by the World Bank. So when you agree to sell your votes again, know that you are not only keeping yourself below poverty line but making it impossible for you to hold your representatives accountable. Let’s think twice!”