2019 poll: Atiku releases ‘Peoples Policy’ document, focuses on making Nigeria work again

…To attract investments that will create 2.5m jobs yearly
…Lift 50m Nigerians from poverty in 2 years, increase GDP to $900bn by 2025
…Policy Document embodies yearnings, aspirations of Nigerians, says PDP
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, unveiled the policy thrust of his administration tagged ‘Peoples Policy’ which processes he promised to involve every Nigerian.

Presenting himself not just as presidential candidate of the PDP, but of the hopes and aspirations of all Nigerians, he promised that every Nigerian is going to be involved in the process.

His words: “I am not here to tell you how I will get Nigeria working again. Instead, I would like to tell you how we will get Nigeria working again together.

I am strongly of the view that i am just one Nigerian and one Nigerian cannot be as wise as all Nigerians. That is why I will offer an inclusive leadership. Atiku Abubakar is 100% for 100% of Nigerians, 100% of the time”.

He said he was compelled to offer himself to rework the nation because too many people are not working and are living in poverty and insecurity while the very fabric of the society is breaking down and the country has never been so divided as a nation.

His policies include plan to create jobs, restructure the polity, and get Nigeria working again.

The presidential candidate said over the last 18 months, he worked with the best experts Nigeria has to offer to come up with policies and plans that when implemented will get Nigeria going in the right direction again.

If elected president, Atiku’s promised to “be pro-active 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 2 years.

“My team and I will also help create jobs by innovating 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 new apprentices every year.

“Our national innovation fund and SME venture capital fund initiatives will provide stable and sustainable long-term support to aspiring entrepreneurs.

“My plan to restructure Nigeria will lead to a vast increase in the internally generated revenue, both for the Federal Government and the states via the matching grants that we will provide to state governments that increase their own revenue.

“Let me be clear, no state will receive less funding than they get today – in fact, all will receive more and the harder a state works, the more they will get.

“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 for the elderly, so our people are not afraid of growing old. A plan that will invest in our failing infrastructure.

“But above 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,” he said.

Determined to deliver on every promise made to Nigerians, he said: “Too often, Nigerians have been promised better governance by those seeking their votes.

Such individuals have preyed on the legitimate desires of our people for their conditions to be improved, that they make all sorts of promises. But it is one thing to promise and another thing to deliver.

I am not one for making grandiose promises. 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”.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the policy document embodies the collective mindset, yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians in their quest for a new leadership and a better life in our country.

The Atiku Abubakar policy document, said the party, is a product of very wide, painstaking and productive consultations with Nigerians from all walks of life, critical stakeholders and development partners in key sectors, in the overall determination to chart a new course for our nation.

The PDP added that policy document foretells a new dawn as it articulates practical solutions and answers to the myriad of economic, social and political challenges facing the nation and sets out all-inclusive templates for national rejuvenation, cohesion, protection of human rights and democratic tenets, wealth creation, transparency and elimination of corruption in governance.

“In line with PDP’s people-based manifesto, the Atiku Abubakar policy document places utmost priority on the people by focusing chiefly on their yearnings for job creation, infrastructural development, poverty eradication, human capital development, inclusiveness and national unity”, said the party in a statement on Monday by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan.

Nigerians, according to the PDP, are particularly happy with the Atiku Abubakar policy document as it seeks to implement pro-poor policies that grant all citizens, irrespective of financial and social status, unhindered opportunity to participate in economic activities to achieve self-reliance and become active contributors to national development.

Comparing it to President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign document tagged ‘Next Level’, the party said Buhari failed to articulate any solutions or operable policy direction in his document.

“The negative reactions of Nigerians to the Next Level mantra have shown that the document is dead on arrival as Nigeria cannot afford the reinforcement of failure, especially as the electorate have already seen through the deception and cheap attempt to beguile them again ahead of the elections.

“Unlike President Buhari, who is adjudged by Nigerians to be aloof, detached and unconcerned, Atiku Abubakar has always maintained a strong bond with the people; hence his ability to understand their challenges, collective aspirations and to proffer solutions with underlining political will”, he said.

While urging Nigerians to continue to take ownership of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential campaign, which embodies their collective aspiration as a people to make the nation work again, the PDP counseled President Buhari to note that he has come to the end of the road as ”

Nigerians will never follow a leader on a journey to Next Level of failure, lies, poverty, hunger, disease, bloodletting, extra-judicial killings, humongous corruption, nepotism, disdain for citizens and institutions of democracy, decayed infrastructure, national divisiveness and embarrassment in the international arena”.