Niger Government Hijacks Venue for Moghalu’s Town Hall Meeting
NEWS DIGEST – The Deputy Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Mohammed Ketso, yesterday, hijacked the venue duly booked for the Minna, Niger State, town hall meeting of the Kingsley Moghalu Support Organisation (KIMSO).
KIMSO had booked the main hall of the Abdulsalam Youth Centre, Tunga, Minna, for its town hall meeting scheduled to hold on Saturday, 19th May, 2018, at 11:00am. KIMSO had also paid for this booking, which remained confirmed as at 11:00pm on the eve of the event.
However, on the morning of the event, officials of KIMSO, Niger State chapter, were told that the venue was no longer available and that the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ketso, had taken it over for an event of the ruling APC party in the State. A smaller hall within the complex was then allotted to KIMSO.
Reacting to the development, aspirant in the 2019 Presidential election, Professor Kingsley Moghalu said: “This is an example of the classical Nigerian political impunity. Politicians, who are all about politics and provide little leadership, don’t respect the sanctity of contracts.”
It was gathered that the desperate move by the Deputy Governor was an attempt to sabotage KIMSO’s event, given the strong support for Prof. Moghalu’s presidential aspiration and the waning support for the APC government of the State. The APC event never held at the hijacked venue.
Professor Moghalu promised to provide modern leadership to the country if elected President next year.
In his speech at the new venue for the KIMSO event – which saw a huge crowd in the overflow – Moghalu provided a three point-agenda for Nigerian youth. He promised to mentor and train the youth to take over effective leadership of the country; wage a decisive war on unemployment – particularly youth unemployment which reached 33 percent in Q3 2017; and dramatically improve the quality of education, to raise the knowledge and skills of Nigerian graduates, which will improve their employability and ability to successfully start their own businesses.
Professor Moghalu also promised that his government, if he is elected President in 2019, will prioritise the welfare of Nigerian women, by strengthening access to quality primary health care, supporting women in business with access to capital to grow their businesses, as well as providing political support for improvement in the participation of women in appointive and elective positions.
With regard to access to finance for youth and women entrepreneurs, Moghalu promised to setup a venture capital (VC) fund, which, as a public private partnership (PPP), will have government’s contribution of N500 billion matched by private sector contribution, raising the fund’s capital to N1 trillion. The fund will provide equity financing, with the advantages that the businesses will not be saddled with the burden of repaying loans with double-digit interest rate, and the VC fund will provide needed expertise to help grow the investee businesses.
This, according to the Presidential aspirant, will substantially reduce unemployment and poverty in the country, through the direct and multiplier effects of the venture capital fund.
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