My Presidency Will Lift 80 Million Nigerians Out Of Poverty- Ezekwesili
The presidential candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) Dr. Oby Ezekwesili on Monday said she has a blueprint on how to revamp the nation’s economy and lift over 80 million Nigerians out of poverty if voted the nation’s president in the 2019 general election.
The former minister of Education who stated this in a world press conference held in Lagos said she will give priority attention to the task of rebuilding the nation’s economy.
She said, ‘’Our agenda is about creating wealth – growing the pie exponentially, creating jobs, building shared prosperity and taking at least 80 million Nigerians out of poverty. The agenda is to mobilize the energies of the people and our private sector, invest in upgrading our capacity capabilities to compete globally, and end the bad policies which have turned Nigeria into Poverty Central.
She urged Nigerian electorate to reject the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) President Muhammadu Buhari and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, saying she is the 21th century ‘David’ that would defeat the duo in the forthcoming election.
She said, ‘’My candidacy under the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) represents the most prepared, most qualified and most formidable choice for 2019.I want to be sure you know that the choice is between on one hand #BuTiku, a ticket which includes a man who insults your intelligence by asking you to go get his WAEC certificate from the armed forces of which he is the commander in chief and another man who cannot tell you where he got the start- up capital for his alleged multi-million dollar businesses; and on the other hand a woman whose track record is filled with concrete achievement in education, solid minerals, public procurement and international development; a woman who has been fighting for this country every day of her life for the past 30 years – from being attacked on the streets of Lagos fighting for the June 12, 1993 mandate to taking up the challenge of this government and, at great risk to myself, visiting Sambisa Forest personally to fight for our still missing #ChibokGirls.
‘’That is why, with a heavy but resolute heart, with a deep sense of responsibility but a clear understanding that I am entering into uncharted waters, I decided that I had no choice, that we have waited too long, and it is time for us to get in and fix this country ourselves.
‘’So don’t pretend you have no choice. You do. And it is not one between the devil and the deep blue sea. I am often uncomfortable speaking about my record, but I am now a politician. I chose to get into politics myself, and so it is my duty to remind you of my track record.
‘’I led the World Bank’s operations in 47 African countries for five years, delivering up to $40 billion that helped countries tackle development challenges across a range of issues. I am not talking about theories, or claiming to lead an economic management team when all of us who did the work knew you were very busy supervising leakages and patronage. I am talking about the actual work of rebuilding nations.
‘’These people are so incompetent that they make issues like infrastructure and human development, agricultural production and productivity, private sector development and economic reforms look like mission impossible. They cannot even speak about Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things because they are busy trading and drinking oil. That Nigeria has not moved forward is not because its issues are complicated. It is complicated because these guys have zero capacity.’’
Ezekwesili assured that she won’t allow power and the spoil of office to detach her from the people, the nation’s leader feel like they are now on top of the world whenever they are voted to occupy Aso Rock villa.
She said, ‘’I was privileged to be a cabinet member before I was 40, and a minister by the time I was 42, implementing the reforms that changed Nigeria’s broken and corrupt public contracting system to one of a global standard. Power doesn’t faze me. Power has never and can never confuse me.’’
