The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubukar says he is for all Nigerians.
Speaking on a live broadcast on Twitter and Facebook at noon on Monday, the PDP candidate said: “I’m not one for making grandiose promises but rather than promises I believe in policies. A promise is an indication to do a future action. A policy is a plan to achieve future goals. I believe in setting goals and coming out with realistic plans and policies to achieving those goals.”
The presidential candidate went on to explain what leadership meant to him. “To me, leadership is having the discipline to commit to one’s goals until they are a reality. I have succeeded in running my private enterprises, which now employ 50,000 Nigerians because I believe in policies and I have the discipline to stay with them until they become realities.
“It is my desire to run for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not because I have a bagful of promises but because I am prepared to lead,” Abubakar said.
The plans and policies to move Nigeria forward have been in the works for the past 18 months, according to him.
“I’m not talking about what I can do; I’m talking about what I have done before,” he said. He then went on to cite his successes with the National Economic Council when he was Vice president that gave Nigeria her highest and most consistent GDP growth.
He also mentioned that during this time, Nigeria’s entire foreign debt was paid off and the GSM revolution was brought in as well because of the plan that was in place then.
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Continuing the former Vice President said “This is my plan to get Nigeria working again; a plan that will give Nigerian workers a living wage, a plan that will give Nigeria’s youth a world class education, a plan that will empower Nigerian women, reduce maternal mortality and increase their financial stability, a plan that will cater to the elderly so our people are not afraid of growing old, a plan that will invest in our failing infrastructure. But most of all, this is a plan that will help create jobs because in my many travels across our great nation the one thing I constantly hear is that our people need jobs.”
In addition, he said, “If elected president I will be proactive in attracting investments and supporting the 50 million small and medium scale enterprises across Nigeria for the purpose of doubling the size of our GDP to 900 billion dollars by 2025. These investments will create a minimum of 2.5 million jobs annually and lift at least 50 million people from poverty in the first two years. My team and I will also create flagship programmes such as the National Open Apprenticeship programme through which we shall enhance the capacity of master craftsmen and women to train one million apprentices every year. My plan to restructure Nigeria will lead to a vast increase of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) both to the Federal government and the states.”
Atiku promised that no state will receive less funding than they currently get but will instead receive more, saying that states that work harder will also receive more.
He invited everyone to go to his campaign website (atiku.org) to see his plans and policies in full and also give their feedback.
