The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Bola Tinubu has promised to ensure the removal of fuel subsidy as well as an end to the embarrassing electricity supply situation in the country, if he is elected in 2023.
Tinubu stated this yesterday in Lagos during a town hall meeting with the business community/organise private sector (OPS).
ThisDay quoted the APC standard bearer as also saying that his administration would reinvent Nigeria’s industrialisation and make the country a leader in the fourth industrial revolution by accelerating the production of made-in-Nigeria goods.
“I am determined to give you affordable and reliable power to light the entire economy as we cannot produce without constant electricity. We have what it takes to bring it to you all; we have the gas, sun, wind and water. As for petroleum subsidy, it has to be removed and my administration would see to the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA),” he said.
Besides, he said his administration would carry out large-scale infrastructural renewal in a manner that would enable the country maintain a minimum of six per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.
Tinubu also promised that his administration would collaborate with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the commercial banks to spur a massive consumer credit revolution in the economy.
“We have to revive our industry. We shall bring the nation’s industrial policy to life. Key to this is our aim to create major and minor industrial hubs in each geopolitical zone.
“We shall not be satisfied by bolstering traditional sectors. We will foster productive excellence in new areas, such as light manufacturing and the Nollywood entertainment sector.
“Through active participation in the digital economy, we shall make Nigeria a leader, instead of a bystander, in the fourth industrial revolution.
“We must target double digit GDP and in the minimum six per cent economic growth to begin to reduce the poverty rate and I am determined to accomplish that,” he added.
The presidential candidate also pledged to promote the agricultural sector by continuing to press for “reforms in the sector that will increase productivity, improve farm incomes while lowering food prices and bringing enough food to the tables of ordinary people.”
He said his administration would end the dismal state of the country’s power sector that had been the greatest undoing of Nigeria’s economy.
Tinubu added that the country must be enabled to produce and buy made-in-Nigeria goods through infrastructure development and consumer credit.
He said his government would empower citizens to, “Produce and buy made-in-Nigeria. We seek a consumer credit revolution, working in concert with the banking industry lead by the CBN. Credit at affordable rates enables the purchase of more cars and the construction of more homes. The standard of living shall rise and the strength of the business sector shall increase in similar measure.
“We must continue with the expansion of infrastructure commenced by the current government. From our roads and ports that will path the way to more commerce, to improvement in irrigation and water management/catchment systems to stem the humanitarian and economic tragedy visited on us by seasonal flooding.”
On security, Tinubu said his administration would continue the fight against insecurity, “by redefining our counterinsurgency doctrine and practice.”
He added that Nigeria’s response to terror, kidnapping, and violent criminality would be defined by the following elements: enlisting of “more people in the armed forces, security services and the police.
“Our forces will be given better tactical communications, mobility as well as improved aerial and ground surveillance capacity.
“Through these and other measures, we shall better identify, monitor, track, and defeat these evil groups where they are. They shall have no respite until they surrender or are utterly defeated,” he added.
