2019 ELECTIONS: The 45 Campaign Promises Of Atiku Abubakar

Former Vice President and People’s Democratic Party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday launched his 2019 presidential campaign with the unveiling of his policy documents, which contain his “vision to get Nigeria working again”. He tagged the documents “The Atiku Plan”.

For posterity sake, SaharaReporters has studied the documents and extracted all the promises, 45 in all. Just in case Atiku wins and someone needs to hold him to account in the future, look no further than this piece!

1. A firm commitment to the promotion of a private sector-driven, competitive and open economy supported by efficiently run public institutions

2. Promoting economic diversification and linkages between agriculture, industry and micro and small enterprises all three of which have great prospects for employment generation and poverty reduction.

3 A supportive enabling business environment

4 A stable macro-economic environment: We shall deepen monetary and fiscal reforms to promote a stable macro-economic environment

5.Increasing the flow of direct foreign Investment(FDI) into the non-oil sector

Working towards achieving the lowest corporate income tax rate in Africa, in order to make Nigeria one the most attractive destinations for foreign direct investment;

Agriculture

6. Strengthen the markets for agricultural commodities through the establishment of private sector-led commodities exchanges around the major crop production regions of Nigeria.

1. Encourage investment in agro-processing cluster by offering concessional financing, tax breaks and seed funds for upgrades or construction of access roads, embedded power plants and water/waste management systems

2. Support women engaged in agricultural activities

On Manufacturing

9 Achieve a sustained increase in manufacturing output. By 2025, the manufacturing sector’s output shall be expanded from 9% to 30% of GDPAchieve a diversified production structure with more processing of domestic raw materials, a select list of light, intermediate and heavy goods industries and a substantial complement of manufactured exports.

On Oil And Gas Sector

1. By 2025, Nigeria shall produce a minimum of 5 million per barrels per day

Increase the contribution of the downstream sector to GDP from <0.5% to at least 2% by 2025 by increasing the quantity of petroleum being refined, consumed and exported. Also, expand domestic gas production to meet power generation and manufacturing demand.

1. To improve domestic supply of refined petroleum products government will incentivize those investors that are willing to cite modular refineries in the North to source crude from neighbouring Niger and Chad via pipeline to be constructed under Public Private Partnership

2. We shall embark on the digitalization of the internal processes of the NNPC. Similarly, we shall ensure timely publication of revenue earnings from Petroleum operations by CBN and Federal Ministry of Finance

3. We shall deal decisively with security issues, pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft. We shall, deploy modern technology in pipeline surveillance.

4. We shall intensify our engagement with local communities in the oil production zones to understand their grievances and workout best ways to ameliorate their social and economic conditions

On Expanding Nigerian Export Base

1. As we double our refining capacity to 2 million barrels of crude daily, we shall aspire to export 50% of that capacity to ECOWAS member states.

2. Mandate the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), the Nigeria investment Promotion Council (NIPC) and other stakeholders to develop a strategy for engaging in preferential and beneficial economic and trade relations with a post BREXIT United Kingdom, without the ambiguity that comes with negotiating with the EU. Under our administration, Nigeria shall take maximum advantage of and improve our existing trade agreements for the benefit of Nigerians.

3. Substantially increase the manufactured export funding window (the Export Stimulation Fund) currently, N700 billion to N1.5 trillion to enhance access to credit by manufacturers of finished, non-oil products.

On Public-Private Sector Partnership

1. The privatization of State-Owned Enterprises including all three government-owned refineries and the concession of Nigeria’s sea and airports to reputable, strategic, and technically sound buyers and

2. The liberalization of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry to, among others, allow market-determined prices for Petrol Motor Spirit (PMS) and eliminate subsides for its consumption.

3. Set up a Special Purpose Fund for the utilization of all monies saved from subsidy removal in building infrastructure in education, health and the empowerment of women and youth

4. Accelerating the privatization and decentralization of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)

5. Concessioning segments of the national grid to the private sector

On Youth Empowerment

1. Creation of up to 3 million self-and wage-paying employment opportunities in the private sector annually, across all the economic sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, MSMEs, ICT and Sports and Entertainment

2. Champion the repositioning and streamlining the activities of the existing Federal and State Government Job Creation Agencies to ensure that their objectives are harmonized, and efforts and resources are better

3. There will be established a system of payment of feeding stipends during the training period either by direct cash payment or by use of a food voucher system in order to support indigent trainee-beneficiaries

4. Lift at least 50 million people out of extreme poverty by 2025

5. An estimated 1,000,000 youth shall benefit annually from our apprenticeship scheme in the informal sector

On Transportation Infrastructure

1. Construction of up to 5,000 Km of modern railway lines

2. Develop the Lagos – Abuja rail network on the standard gauge system

3. Undertake immediate operational improvements to significantly decongest Lagos ports.

4. Define timelines for completion of concessions granted from inland/dry port development

On Power Infrastructure

1. Ensure effective regulatory environment to deliver contract-based electricity market compliant with market rules

2. Intensify rural electrification projects to ensure electricity access to over 80 million Nigerians currently without access to grid electricity

3. Create an environment that will enable distribution companies recover full costs for power supplied to their consumers with firm commitment to a metering program for all customers

Refinining and Petrochemical Infrastructure

1. Prioritize investment in nameplate capacity and ensure that Nigeria starts to refine 50% of its current crude oil output of 2 million bpd by 2025

2. To increase the nation’s refining capacity, we shall privatize all four-outstanding government owned refineries to competent off-takers with mandates to produce agreed levels of refined output.

The Management Of Economic Resources

1. Slow down the rate of debt accumulation by promoting more Public Private Partnerships in critical infrastructure funding and identify more innovative funding options.

2. Review the current utilization of all borrowed funds and ensure that they are deployed more judiciously.: Specifically, we will ensure that all borrowed funds are for priority infrastructure projects that would generate income, boost output and put the economy on the path of sustainable growth.

3. Intensify efforts to enhance the internal revenue generating capacity of all three tiers of government

4. Quantify budgetary leakages and redirect to priority savings to priority areas (education, health, funding of revised compensation structure). Based on the above, deliverables can be specified and monitored accordingly

On Niger Delta

1. Relocate the Niger Delta Ministry from Abuja to the region to enable it become closer to the stakeholders and beneficiaries of the initiatives

On Restructuring

1. Local Governments shall remain as independent tier of government. Grassroots development requires the recognition of the Local Governments as independent structures of government not as appendages to the office of the State Government

2. Governments shall remain as independent tier of government. Grassroots development requires the recognition of the Local Governments as independent structures of government not as appendages to the office of the State Governor

3. Once power over minerals and mines is devolved to the concurrent list, states where deposits of mines and mineral resources are found will have control over those resources and only pay royalties to the center.

SAHARA REPORTERS