One of the aspirants under the People’s Democratic party, PDP and a former Nigerian Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki says if given the chance to be President, he will collaborate with the industries to train one million youths in technical and vocational skills each year.
The aspirant stated this in Abuja while addressing media executives.
Dr Saraki said as long as there was an old woman in this country who could afford her prescription drugs for diabetes or malaria because she had no insurance coverage, he want to run for President, because he would ensure that people like her were covered and push the compulsory health insurance coverage from the current 7 per cent to 50 per cent in the first two years.
He said “as long as there is a child in Nigeria that cannot read or write, then the job is not done. And it is for this one child that I want to run for President, because I will ensure that the law on compulsory basic education is enforced and quality of teaching improves in all public schools”
The Presidential aspirant said although the problems that the country were facing were so many and daunting that they might not be solved in the lifetime of a presidency, but the point was that this generation could be the one to start it all.
“We can be the generation that is determined to make ours the last generation in whose time people aspiring for public office would be judged based on the content of their character and their capacity not on which part of the country they come from, what language they speak or how they worship God. Let us be the last generation that would ask, “Where do you come from,” rather than “What can you do” Dr Saraki stressed.
“We all have reasons to be worried about the future of this country. But this is not the time to surrender and wallow in despair. Rather, this is the moment, when all patriots and citizens of goodwill must show courage, rise above those lines of divisions that have kept us apart over the years and ask this very important question: “where do we go from here?”
“As long as 65 million of our citizens still live in slum conditions in our cities and urban centers, then the job is not done. And this is why I want to be President, because I will deliver half a million affordable housing units every year to our low-income earners and eliminate urban slums” he remarked
He said Nigerians never lacked ideas, they knew what needed to be done, but what the country lack was leadership and this he intended to fill if given a chance.
“As long as our university lecturers still have reasons to embark on strike actions; as long our universities still rank outside the top 1000 in the world, then our job is not done. And this is why I want to be President, because I will ensure that our universities and higher education institutions are competitive and well-funded, adopting models and approaches that have served the most successful higher education systems in the world” said Dr Saraki
“As long as some of our best and brightest brains still relocate to other countries to find fulfillment, then our job is not done. And this is why I want to be President, because I will develop targeted incentives to reverse the brain drain and keep our professionals in the country” he stressed.
“As long as our huge army of talented youths do not think that the Nigerian government can support their dreams, whether in entertainment, fashion or other creative business, the job is not done. And it is for these talented Nigerians that I want to be President, because I will create the Nigeria Creative Industry Initiatives to protect our leadership position on the African continent and position us to be global leader in the cultural productions economy”
The Presidential aspirant said Nigerians had witnessed a country where everyone was guaranteed a minimum standard of living, where the middle class thrived, where jobs were available and predictable, where crimes were punished, where the civil service was efficient, where public utilities worked, and where Nigeria was the pride of every black man anywhere in the world.
“In our lifetime, we have witnessed a Nigeria where one could drive from Lagos in the night and arrive Maiduguri in the morning, without fear or misfortune — we have witnessed a Nigeria, where a Fulani man, would arrive Enugu as a cattle trader and ended up as elected mayor of the city., we have seen a Nigeria where everyone, rich or poor, was guaranteed education just by merely attending a school. a Nigeria where children could wander far away from home, for as long as they wanted, and were sure to return in the evening”.
Ime N
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