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| Chris Nwaokobia Jnr. |
By Dr.Chris Nwaokobia Jnr.
Countrymen, as we approach the much talked about general elections billed to commence on the 2nd of April, 2011 with the National Assembly elections, I am compelled to raise issues of note ranging from the simple to the sublime. I shall attempt to do this service without fear or favour and without let or hinder.
I must state that beyond the categorization of candidates by the media, the best candidates have been relegated to the background because the thought of those who must show the way have been blighted by lucre, sycophancy and mercantilism, they have subordinated policy articulation, policies and ideals to fat pay cheques and brown envelops.
Again, those who call for CHANGE on the one hand, are on the other, all too willing to sing a different tune once money is thrown at them, little wonder we are where we are; little wonder pundits worry about what lies ahead in the face of a global fervency that oils the wheel of CHANGE, the REVOLUTION in the Magreb, from Tunisa to Egypt, from Yemen to Bahrain, from Jordan to Oman and from Algeria to Libya is instructive.
I read in the news today of the shooting and killings in Lagos Island yesterday, I read of the killing of a Policeman in the attempted murder of two Senators at different locations in Anambra, I read about the bomb explosions in Jos, of the violence in Bayelsa, of the destruction of campaign offices in Kebbi, Gombe, Katsina et al. I also read of the Boko Haram menace and the threat of MEND. The traumatic and invidious litany continues ad infinitum ad nauseum.
These sad testaments calls for no better action than to elect on the 9th of April, 2011 a President that holds out a proactive and valid solution to the Nigerian problem. A vote for me, including the 3Es of our faith (Energy, Education and Employment/Empowerment) is a VOTE for the following imperatives in 12months.
A VOTE for me is a vote for 24 hours light supply in 12months through the liberalization of the Power sector to allow for Joint Venture partnership with multi-national energy companies that will exploit Bio-fuel/gas (Waste), Coal (with maximum attention to environmental friendliness), Wind (from the Sahara desert axis in the far North), Solar, Hydro, Thermal and other sources of energy for the generation, transmission and distribution of power. We shall solve in 12months at no cost on government what the PDP led Federal Government could not solve after spending 25Billion Dollars in 12years. All we shall do is provide the enabling environment and duty waivers to our Joint Venture Partners who shall jointly generate 38,000 Mega Watts of Power in 6months; deliver the 18,000 MW needed for 24hours energy demands and sell the balance 20,000 MW at a 60:40 ratio from which government shall also make profit.
A VOTE for me is a vote for an effective and far-reaching policy on Education. My government shall abolish JAMB and empower Universities to set entrance examinations and admit students on terms regulated by the National Universities Commission. We know that it is absolutely illogical and somewhat fraudulent to have JAMB sell 2million forms to Nigerians for less than 250,000 places in our tertiary institutions. We shall ensure that our tertiary institutions are professionalised to graduate students that can fit the standards of a highly progressive world, ditto Technical schools shall pursue technical courses, Science schools science disciplines, Arts and Social Sciences shall so do, that way we shall improve the quality of our graduates and charge our nation to progress. Again we shall ensure free and compulsory education to secondary level as well as monitor the standards of Private education in the Country.
A VOTE for me is a vote for the creation of 5million jobs in 12months, through our energy policy we shall cause a resurgence of the industrial zest of our people, we shall cause a revival of more than 10,000 companies and industries that have folded up in the past 12 years, and a return of the more than 100 companies that have relocated to Ghana and other neighbouring Countries. Our renewed educational curriculum shall empower the young to other vocations soothing their intellectual quotient.
A VOTE for me is a vote for improved security and safety of lives and properties. The chief cause of the security challenge in Nigeria today is the body language of government. My government shall treat human lives with unequalled primacy, and the protection of properties as germane to peaceful cohabitation. We shall empower the Police and re-energise our security institutions; we shall ensure that all Policemen are well remunerated and government responsible for the education and medical needs of their families, that way it will be difficult to compromise the Police. We shall equip the Police with modern crime fighting facilities and ensure that offenders are brought to justice irrespective of social stratification.
A VOTE for me is a vote for PEACE in the Niger Delta, rather than bandy Amnesty as a solution to the Niger Delta problem, my government shall turn the NIGER DELTA into a ‘huge construction site’, we shall develop the area, we shall build bridges, roads, schools and open up the hinterlands as well as encourage businesses to grow that way the people shall be gainfully engaged. We shall also impress it on the Multi-national companies operating in that space to be true to the terms of their Joint Venture covenants by being responsible to the social challenges of their host communities.
A VOTE for me is a vote for TRUE FEDERALISM and devolution of powers, my government shall sponsor an Executive Bill demanding for fiscal federalism and devolution of powers; we shall lobby the National Assembly to pass into LAW a Bill granting 50% control of resources to the States where they originate, and 50% to the Federal Government, from which 20% shall serve as support fund for States who might need enough time to redevelop their sources of wealth, and also for matters of natural emergency as obtained in the First Republic; the balance 30% shall cover the cost for Federal responsibilities. We are mindful of the need to diversify our sources of income, and we are aware that Agriculture remains for most great economies the biggest revenue earner. We also intend to make the States more responsible and etiolate the alibi of ‘we are still waiting for funds from the Federal Government’.
A VOTE for me is a vote for PART TIME Legislature; my government shall through an Executive Bill seek to save great resources for government by ensuring that our legislature is part-time as obtains in most democracies around the world. As I seek to curb my humongous powers as the President through the Devolution of Powers and Fiscal Federalism Bill, I shall also present a Bill for PART-TIME Legislature and Remuneration Per-sitting for the Legislature. That way we shall be saving huge funds for social security’s, pensions, and medical care for children below six years and the aged.
A VOTE for me is a vote for good roads and effective transportation. We shall build a Six-lane road network across the six geopolitical zones in 12months. We shall revive our rail system and build new ones where imperative; we shall build standard airports and upgrade facilities in the existing ones. That way we shall ease the movement of goods and services across the nation, which certainly shall improve commerce and create jobs.
A VOTE for me is a vote for a new regime in the WAR against corruption; we shall adopt a hybrid of the practice in the U.S and the Asian Tigers in the battle to eradicate corruption. My government shall adopt an administrative process in this fight with recourse to the Judiciary as the last resort. We shall after investigation write to erring persons to forfeit what they have stolen and this practice shall be stiff and far-reaching as we intend to create monuments of reference and those of deterrence such that Nigerians of today as well as posterity shall lampoon and despise corruption. This practise obtains in all progressive democracies, we shall not allow our Courts to serve as a shield to corrupt persons and will not in the name of plea bargaining allow people to benefit from corruption. The EFCC shall therefore have a new work regime which shall involve an amendment of the existing Laws to allow for investigation, and through the Central Bank forfeitures and Confiscation of looted funds and properties. We shall also seek the creation of Anti-corruption Courts that shall handle corruption cases with dispatch.
A VOTE for me is a vote for social security’s for the aged and children below the age of six. My government shall provide free medical care for children below the age of six; and for adults above the age of 70. We shall do so from the funds that we shall save from the new regime of part-time legislature and the new sources of revenue that our regime intends to open, chief amongst which is expanding agriculture through the establishment of FEDERAL FARMS AND PRESERVATORIES and ensuring that Fertilizers are allocating to Farmers and not Politicians, and we shall exploit other mineral resources that abounds in this space for wealth.
A VOTE for me is a vote for a new paradigm in governance; my government shall be responsible and responsive to the demands of our people both at home and in the Diaspora; we shall make the primacy of life a prime praxis in governance, every Nigerian shall be encouraged to legitimately fend for oneself, but where a Nigerian in Diaspora runs afoul of the Law our government shall ensure that such Nigerian is protected against trial by ordeal and is tried within the best normative practicable anywhere in the world; through studied resolute commitment to responsible governance we shall berth the realities of democracy and the beauties of Jubilee.
A VOTE for me is a vote for an all YOUTH TICKET that is inspired for CHANGE. At 40 I believe that I am fortified to lead our great Country away from poverty to plenty, from frustration to HOPE, from WANT to abundance and from ethnicity to oneness; my running mate Alhaji Usman Yerima Shettima Abbas is a 38year old Nigerian from Kaduna State who possesses massive faith in our oneness as a people and in the great Nigeria that we profess. To us the challenge of berthing a NEW NATION, a new day, a new paradigm and a NEW HOPE is an unalterable determination. WE WILL NOT FAIL YOU.
A Vote for Dr.Chris Nwaokobia Jnr. and Alhaji Usman Shettima Yerima Abbas for the Presidency come April, 9th, 2011 is a VOTE wisely done and a CHOICE well made.
God bless you.
(Nwaokobia is the Presidential Candidate of LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF NIGERIA –LDPN.)
