Port Harcourt — Mr Dumo Lulu-Briggs, a gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers, has assured the people of his readiness to make agriculture and tourism the highest revenue earner for the state if voted into power.
Lulu-Briggs gave the assurance in an interview on Thursday in Port Harcourt.
He said that there was need for the state to diversify its economy to enable it compete effectively with other strong economies.
Lulu-Briggs said that experts had postulated that agriculture and tourism if well harnessed would generate even more revenue than oil and gas which was currently the main economic stay of the state.
"According to a World Bank statistics, we have untapped resources and huge manpower that we haven't even tested the potential of our people.
"I got a World Bank group to give me a paper as to what we should do to expand the economy of the state and they came up with their findings.
"They said to me that oil and gas which is your main stay is not even the greatest revenue earner, they said our greatest revenue earner would be agriculture and tourism if properly harnessed," he said.
In the same vain, Lulu-Briggs urged the state leadership of the party to shun interference with the internal democratic process by ensuring synergy among aspirants.
He said that the direct primaries system if adopted by the state would protect the collective interest of members better than the earlier adopted indirect primaries.
"I think at this point there should be a level of synergy, the state can't be acting differently from the national working committee of the party.
"Although the national working committee allows states to decide their mode of primaries, I think the present political state of our party should be determined by the people and not by our interests.
"Only the principles of direct primaries will allow candidates the opportunity to elect their preferred candidates just like what President Muhammadu is doing by adopting the direct primaries for the Presidential primary election.
"By adopting the direct primaries, the president is already returning political power back to the people to enable them chose their leader.
"And I think our state leadership should adopt same process to ensure our collective interest is protected," he said. (NAN)
