National Chairman and Presidential candidate of the Action Democratic Party, Engineer Yabagi Yusuf Sani, on Thursday announced the composition of his presidential campaign council while he simultaneously unveiled his blueprint for Nigerians.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, the ADP presidential candidate painted a picture of misery, poverty, insecurity and favouritism under the Muhammadu Buhari government and administrations preceding it.
He said:” Due to the cataclysm visited on the country within a short space of time by a bad government, Nigeria today is rated as the global capital of poverty and as one of the three leading centres of insecurity in the comity of nations.
“A survey by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that 133 million Nigerians are poor. What else can be responsible for this unsightly situation for a country with all it needs to be prosperous? Apparently, bad governance.
“According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the monthly average exchange rate of the naira to the US dollar in the last seven-and-a-half years of the Buhari administration fell from N196.92 in June 2015 to N445,83 to the dollar for interbank Foreign Exchange market as at November 2022.
“This represents 53 per cent depreciation against the dollar. As a result, Nigeria’s foreign debt burden increased by N9 trillion.
This is an increase of 228 per cent in debt in seven years, from $10 billion in 2015 to $40.06 billion (figures from the Debt Management Office), being the worst in seven years. It will cost the country N9 trillion to pay the $40.06 billion debts.”
He assured Nigerians that if given the mandate to serve, the human and material resources of the country would be harnessed to promote decent and quality living for Nigerians.
“To stabilize the economy, there is a great need for good fiscal and monetary policy plans. Is only a knowledgeable and competent party and leader that can do this.
“Our philosophy and propelling motif are to offer a Credible Alternative to the dangerous trend threatening to take us to the abyss.
We the founding fathers of the ADP and our teeming members believe that given the stupendous natural and human resources available, the country should have no business being poor and the people should be much better off in their welfare and living standard.
“We are committed to quickly embark on exploring and harnessing the vast resources of the country to profoundly lift Nigeria and its citizens to be among the most advanced and prosperous nations of the world.
“More importantly, our philosophy and mission in governance are anchored on the objective of promoting unity and integration of the component nationalities, communities and groups through a conscious, prudent and disciplined commitment to the golden, universal principles of transparency in governance, equity, equality and fair play in the distribution of the nation’s resources without discrimination on the bases of ethnicity, faith, creed, region, gender, class and other identities of the citizens.
“When given the mandate in 2023, our covenant with Nigerians is that governance by the rule of law will be the guiding principle of our administration at the national and the sub-national levels.”
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