Niger Deputy Governor Hijacks Venue for Moghalu’s Town Hall Meeting

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 in Tunga, Minna, for its town hall meeting scheduled to hold last Saturday at 11 a.m. and also paid for the booking, which remained confirmed as at 11:00 p.m. on the eve of the event.

However, in the morning of the day of the event, officials of KIMSO, Niger State chapter, were told that the venue was no longer available and that the Deputy Governor, Ketso, had taken over the place for an event of the All Progressive Congress (APC) party in the state. A smaller hall within the complex was then allotted to KIMSO.

Reacting to the development, the 2019 presidential aspirant, 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 Moghalu’s presidential aspiration and the waning support for the APC government in the state. The APC event was never held at the hijacked venue.

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 youths. He promised to mentor and train the youths 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.

He also promised that his government, if elected president in 2019, would 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 youths and women entrepreneurs, Moghalu promised to setup a venture capital (VC) fund, which as a public private partnership (PPP), will have government 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 the 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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