IT is without doubt that the average Nigerian is economically worse off today, chiefly due to the harsh policies of the All Progressive Congress (APC) led administration. This is coupled with the widespread insecurity in the country which has made the lives of hapless Nigerians to become very cheap like never before in the nation’s history. Abject poverty has become the lot of the majority of Nigerians as a result of the unbearable inflationary rate and economic policies without human face. It is on this premise that the candidacy of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has continued to receive acceptance from the long suffering Nigerians on a daily basis. Atiku is not a dimwit or neophyte that will require eternity to roll out his plans for the country. He has already unveiled his plans for the nation which is named the Atiku Plan. The plan is a document that contains 45 actions and they are all aimed at returning prosperity to the country. Key amongst the plan is Atiku’s desire to lift at least 50 million people out of extreme poverty by 2025 and annual apprenticeship scheme in the informal sector for estimated 1,000,000 youth. He also plans to construct up to 5,000 Km of modern railway lines and to also develop the Lagos – Abuja rail network on the standard gauge system.
Over an hour S£x video tape played in Lagos court
The Atiku plan also involves the immediate undertaking of operational improvements to significantly decongest Lagos ports and to define timelines for completion of concessions granted from inland/dry port development. The Atiku Plan also envisions slowing down the rate of debt accumulation by promoting more public private partnerships in critical infrastructure funding and identify more innovative funding options. In addition, the Atiku Plan covers the review of current utilisation of all borrowed funds and ensuring that they are deployed more judiciously. Also included in the plan is to increase the flow of direct foreign Investment(FDI) into the non-oil sector and to ensure that Nigeria shall produce a minimum of 5 million barrels of oil per day by 2025. The plan is also focussed on how to improve domestic supply of refined petroleum products with the government incentivising investors that are willing to cite modular refineries in the North. The plan also aims at embarking on the digitalisation of the internal processes of the NNPC as well as securing the nation’s pipelines with latest technology.
Most of the plans actually have the economic capacity to create wealth and prosperity for the citizenry. This much is evidenced in Atiku’s demonstrated ability to have created thousands of jobs so far thereby adding economic values to their lives. He a is proven and consummate businessman who co-founded Intels, an oil servicing business with wide-ranging operations across Nigeria and some overseas countries. He is also the founder of Adama Beverages Limited in Yola and the American University of Nigeria (AUN) also situated in Yola, the Adamawa state capital. He also owns a feedmill producing company that is also located in Yola.
Atiku Abubakar is one of the highest individual employers of labour in Nigeria and he is a ditribalised Nigerian who believes firmly in excellence. He is about the only presidential candidate in the 2019 election that has the requisite experience and capacity to create wealth and jobs. The ability of Atiku to also create a most conducive environment for economic prosperity is a major factor that Nigerians must seriously consider in their choice of president. Atiku as a young secondary school leaver attended the Nigeria Police College in Kaduna. He later left the college when he could not present an O-Level Mathematics result. Afterwards, he worked briefly as a Tax Officer in the Regional Ministry of Finance, from where he gained admission to the School of Hygiene in Kano in 1966. He graduated with a Diploma in 1967, having served as the iInterim Student Union President of the School. He went a step further in his academic pursuits by enrolling for a Law Diploma at the Ahmadu Bello University Institute of Administration in 1967; although it was on a scholarship that was awarded by the regional government. Upon graduation in 1969, Atiku secured employment with the Nigeria Customs Service during the Nigerian civil war.
The Waziri of Adamawa is a committed democrat and political devotee of late Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, who himself was an acclaimed political tactician that flounced the country like a hurricane. Atiku deployed everything at his disposal to truncate the third ambition of his erstwhile boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He presided over the National Council on Privatization, a task that saddled him with the responsibility of overseeing the sale of hundreds of loss- making and poorly managed public enterprises. He has proven himself as a philanthropist of note and this much was demonstrated in 2012 when he donated $750,000 to the National Peace Corps Association in the United States. The donation was meant to fund a new initiative that would feature global leaders on the discussion of Peace Corps’s impact. It is note worthy that Atiku’s donation was the largest ever received from any individual in the history of the association. He is also a vocal advocate of the improved educational system in the country. In August 2013, Atiku sponsored a students’ essay contest to generate solutions to the most pressing challenges in Nigeria educational institution.
- Salako, a publisher, lives in Akure