2023: Sunday School Teacher to run for Governor in Plateau State
2 min read
A Sunday school teacher, Dr. Patrick Dakum has declared interest to run for Governor of Plateau State in 2023.
Dakum, an elder and Sunday school teacher in Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) for over 30years was twice Commissioner in Plateau State. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Institute of Human Virology, Abuja. Dakum has maintained his positions in the church despite his political appointments and still teaches the Youth Class of the Sunday School.
An Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine in the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Dakum hopes to run a government that “consolidates” all the programmes of past administrations in Plateau State.
“It is a development strategy that takes cognisance of the good practices of past governments,” said Dakum on Tuesday in a press conference. Dakum’s “Consolidation agenda” is combining the Emancipation agenda of Solomon Lar administration, Reengineering agenda of Joshua Dariye administration, Redemption agenda of Jonah Jang administration and Rescue agenda of Simon Lalong administration as well as programmes of past military and sole administrators in the State.
According to him, “We want to mix all the good practices of the past for the growth of Plateau. If you fail to recognize the good of the past, you are trying to answer a question that has been answered.
“But even though you are going to consolidate these past ideas, you must bring innovation in it. For every idea or project in the past, the next government should be able to upgrade it using ICT. Schooling is changing. If we are going to build schools, we must think of transforming our system to function online. When there is a pandemic, our children don’t have to be home.
“In the transport sector, we need to develop a system that is in tandem with current realities. If we deploy buses with free internet facilities, no one will patronize Keke. Keke is getting outdated. Other countries have moved on and have more organized transport systems that serves their needs.”
Dakum advised Plateau citizens to be firm in demanding their needs from intending leaders.
“I think we as Plateau people need to paint a picture of what we want so that whoever wins election in 2023 will automatically understand that we are not looking for a slogan but a developmental strategy that will work for Plateau.
“The more we paint that picture in the minds of everyone in politics, the more we’ll be able to hold Government accountable. So when someone says they are running for 2023, we should be able to ask what’s their vision for the Development of Plateau,” he said.
