Independence Day: Nigerians must reject third-class country status —Gbenga Hashim

•Unveils proposed $4tn economy, 4m bpd crude, N605 petrol, affordable energy for industrialisation
•Says ‘Nigeria we want cannot be outsourced’

The Presidential candidate of the Accord Party, Dr Gbenga Hashim, has challenged Nigerians to reject the idea that the country must remain a third-class nation, urging citizens to take greater ownership of Nigeria’s future ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

In an Independence Day message released in Abuja, yesterday, Hashim explained that Nigeria’s prolonged underdevelopment was not the result of a lack of resources, but of the failure to deploy the country’s enormous human, natural and institutional capacity for transformation.

He identified poverty, human trafficking, insecurity, institutional capture, the weakening of the civil service and the breakdown of security infrastructure among the factors holding the country back despite its enormous potential.

Hashim maintained that Nigeria’s young population should be transformed from a development challenge into the country’s greatest economic advantage through skills, education, employment and productive opportunities.

“Nigeria is not a poor country. We have behaved like a poor country because we have consistently underutilised the enormous capacity available to us,” he said.

He said the consequences of poor governance extend beyond economic statistics, affecting the security, dignity and future of ordinary Nigerians.

According to him, human trafficking, unemployment and insecurity thrive where citizens lack economic opportunity and institutions are too weak to protect vulnerable people.

“You cannot permanently defeat trafficking without defeating the conditions that make human beings vulnerable to trafficking,” said Hashim.

The Accord candidate insisted that the 2027 election should provide Nigerians with an opportunity to take greater responsibility for determining the country’s direction.

He urged voters to demand clear visions, measurable targets and accountability from political candidates rather than allowing elections to be reduced to personalities, ethnicity, religion or political slogans.

“Nigeria belongs to Nigerians. We must stop behaving as spectators in the affairs of our own country,” he said.

Hashim argued that an Accord administration would target the transformation of Nigeria into a $4 trillion economy within 8 years, an economy driven by increased production, manufacturing, agriculture, energy, technology and services.

He added that Nigeria must move from an economy focused largely on distributing resource revenues to one that creates wealth through production and value addition.

Hashim reiterated his proposal to raise Nigeria’s crude production to at least four million barrels per day within 24 months of an Accord administration.

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According to him, the target would be pursued through the recovery of commercially viable shut-in oil wells, improved security, investment in production infrastructure, better crude evacuation and reforms to petroleum production costs.

He equally stressed that additional crude production must become a foundation for domestic industrialisation.

“Four million barrels a day cannot simply mean four million barrels exported. Nigerian crude must power Nigerian industry,” he said.

Hashim also reaffirmed his proposal for ₦605 per litre as the starting sustainable petrol price, with a longer-term objective of reducing the price towards ₦200–₦300 per litre.

He said the policy would be based on lowering the actual cost of producing and delivering energy rather than returning to an opaque subsidy system.

The Accord candidate maintained that Nigeria must transform its oil and gas resources into the foundation of a globally competitive energy and industrial economy.

He proposed substantial expansion of crude production, refining, petrochemicals, gas processing, electricity generation, pipelines, storage and other energy infrastructure.

“Nigeria must stop exporting the raw material and importing the finished value. We must capture the value chain here,” Hashim said.

Hashim argued that affordable and reliable energy would be central to reviving Nigeria’s manufacturing sector and reducing production costs across the economy.

He equally proposed making West African integration a central pillar of Nigeria’s foreign policy, arguing that the region represents a major opportunity for Nigerian economic expansion.

He contended that Nigerian manufacturers, farmers, energy companies, financial institutions and technology businesses should be positioned to serve a much larger integrated West African market.

“Our neighbourhood is not a burden, we are one family. West Africa is Nigeria’s strategic economic space.”

He argued that Nigeria’s rapidly growing young population could become the country’s greatest economic advantage if government invests deliberately in technical education, professional skills and productive employment.

“Our young population should be Nigeria’s greatest economic asset. We must give them the skills and opportunities to turn their energy into wealth.”

He said renewal of the civil service and public institutions would be equally important, arguing that ambitious economic targets cannot be achieved without a competent and accountable state.

“We cannot build a $4 trillion economy with institutions that cannot perform. The Nigerian state itself must be rebuilt.”

Hashim contended that Independence Day should remind Nigerians that political independence must ultimately be matched by economic and institutional independence.

“The Nigeria we want cannot be outsourced. It cannot be imported. It must be built by Nigerians.”

To him, the 2027 election gives Nigerians an opportunity to choose not merely a government but a national direction.

“We are offering the vision. We are offering the leadership. But the ultimate power belongs to Nigerians.”

He concluded that “our independence gave us ownership of Nigeria. It is time to exercise that ownership.”