From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Former governor of Ogun State and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Ogun East Senatorial District in the 2023 general election, Gbenga Daniel, has disclosed that his desire to stimulate development at the grassroots with quality representation and effective legislation have been the motivation behind his aspiration to be elected into the National Assembly.
He made this disclosure while speaking at Ojowo, Ijebu-Ife, during an empowerment and award of scholarships to indigent students in Ijebu East Local Government Area of the state, which climaxed his ward-to-ward tour of the council.
Daniel, who noted that Ijebu East LGA has the largest bitumen deposits in Nigeria, called on the Federal Government to invest in the local exploration and development of bitumen to enable the country create more jobs and preserve its foreign exchange.
He observed that the diversification of Nigeria’s economy would receive a boost with the local production of bitumen, which is a crucial raw material used in road construction.
The former governor, however, expressed his determination to work with relevant agencies towards opening the extractive industry for more opportunities.
He said: “This is where we have the largest bitumen deposits in Nigeria. We intend to appeal to the Federal Government to expend money for the development of bitumen in this area. Even if we do not have crude oil here, it is clear that we have bitumen.
“I, therefore, implore the Federal Government to invest in the exploration and development of the bitumen industry in this Ijebu East local government. I’m saying that whereas the governor is doing his best, we need to find a way of supporting him and other governors with the correct kind of legislation.
“Current statistics show that while Nigeria has a total bitumen reserve size of 42.74 billion metric tonnes that have remained unexploited for years; the country relies on importation of bitumen and other major road construction materials.”
Speaking further, Daniel restated the imperative of activating the Local Government Autonomy Bill in order to make the nation’s third tier of government fully functional and accelerate the pace of development at the grassroots.