Ibru-Mukoro declares bid for Reps 

Promises to make Ughelli top tourism destination, boost security 
Obukome Elaine Ibru-Mukoro has declared her intention to contest the seat for Ughelli North/South/Udu, Delta State Federal Constituency.

She made this known at the weekend during a fundraising dinner held in her honour in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Surrounded by friends, family members and members of the constituency, she described her entry as a call to serve and turn around her constituency.

She said: “My mission is to serve by making immediate impact in healthcare, education and empowerment of rural women, with a long-term agenda to improve social infrastructure, especially as it affects the lives of women, children and the elderly. We will constantly work at improving educational infrastructure, while ensuring a safe school environment for our children.

“I have been nurturing the ambition to represent my constituency for the past 20 years, and my children, family and friends have been pushing and encouraging me to take the step. But I often turned it down because I wasn’t comfortable that there’s not enough support for women. After a lot of meditations, prayers, consultations and observations, I decided it’s time to make the move.”
 
On what she would bring to the table, Ibru-Mukoro said: “There’s a lot of deep-rooted diseases that need to be tackled. If you want to tackle the problems, you must go to the root. So, I am going to the root to solve the problems.

“There’s large-scale unemployment in Ughelli. And the reason for that is because there is no provision for job creation, no opportunities for youths to become entrepreneurs.
 
“We will ensure security of the people. We don’t have investors coming in because they are afraid to go to the area. We will solve the problem of insecurity first. We are solving the problem by seeking police reform, to see how to help the police and ensure they have a better life. Corruption will be reduced if policemen have a better life, it will make them focus on protecting life and property and solving criminal cases properly, instead of looking for the highest bidder. No policeman will be corrupt if provisions to live a better life are provided and we are already in touch with the police headquarters.”

Speaking on economic viability of the area, she said: “We want to make Ughelli a top tourism destination. We have festivals, Abraka Resort, and so many other things to attract investment and create jobs and take young people off the streets.”
 

On healthcare, she explained: “Our intention is to train and re-train existing medical personnel, give them a facelift and introduce regular visits by foreign-based medical teams on free medical outreach missions. We will support healthcare, especially for the elderly.”

Ibru-Mukoro said further: “We will work on sustained provision of potable drinkable water for our communities. We will provide more treated boreholes and alternative power sources to power the water pumps. This will have immediate impact at reducing healthcare issues in these areas.”
 
Advising the girl child, she said: “The girl child needs to be strong, mentally prepared for the future, take her education seriously, so that she can be self-sufficient. Even though a woman ends up with a man that has all the money in the world, she must still be self-sufficient. We will organise training workshops to equip young girls and men with vocational training.”