Economy, security, education dominate As Moghalu, Durotoye, Ezekwesili debate Atiku explains absenteeism APC defends Buhari’s absence
Ahead of the 2019 general election which is less than one month from now, Kingsley Mogahalu, presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party ( YPP); Fela Durotoye, presidential candidate of Alliance for New Nigeria, (ANN) and Oby Ezekwesili, presidential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), yesterday reeled out various strategies to tackle the menace of insecurity in Nigeria if elected as President of the country.
They also spoke on their plans to usher in prosperity for Nigerians by making the nation’s economy robust again. In their plans also are strategies to stamp out corruption in the country,
improve education, among others.
The presidential candidates, who featured at the Nigeria Election Debate Group/broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria-organised presidential debate in Abuja, were on stage responding to a wide range of issues ranging from security, education, health, economy, agriculture, taxation, among others. They spoke in tandem that the country had over the years been bruised, needing urgent retooling.
Meanwhile, the two major contenders expected at the debate stayed away. They have however, explained their absenteeism.
President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) and Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had been on each other’s jugular over the debate and each other’s refusal to attend.
In his appearance, Moghalu believes that to get the security right, his presidency would tackle corruption in the military, create economic opportunities, especially in the poverty-and insecurity-ravaged NorthEast region and monitor the supply of military hardware, modernise and equip the police as well as other security agencies.
On education, the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN), promised to allocate 20 percent of the budget to the sector if elected president of the country.
Moghalu added that he would put an end to the perennial industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU).
He lamented what he termed the abysmal low percent successive governments budgeted for education, saying that he would change all that the moment he takes over as president.
He further said he would invest in curriculum that centres on vocational, technical and entrepreneurial that ensures that students when they gradu- ate would be empowered to create wealth.
He also said that there was the urgent need for Nigeria to decide if it was running a capitalist or socialist economy as a first step in revamping it, stressing that his administration would invest in small scale business and initiate education reform.
Moghalu blamed the challenge of the economy on the inability of successive administrations to appoint the right individuals into positions of authority.
“I would recruit 1.4 million police officers in the next four years if elected as the president. We would bring down the cost of governance significantly. What to know is that our economy cannot grow if we don’t fix leadership, we need a president that understands the economy,” Moghalu said.
On his part, Durotoye bemoaned the high cost of governance in the country, promising to reduce the cost of governance and reform public institutions across the country, to enable them deliver on their mandate.
The ANN candidate also promised to ensure institutional reforms in the country’s security architecture, equip security agencies, motivate them, remove nepotism in the institutions, introduce community participation in security services and tackle ideologies that breed insecurity.
He also promised to invest in infrastructure and focus on revamping the curriculum.
Ezekwesili, the ACPN candidate, on her part, pledged to immediately constitute a strength, weakness, opportunities and threat (SWOT) team to rapidly respond to issues of insecurity, find the best brains in the security agencies to develop security strategies, use technology and entrench global collaboration in the fight against insecurity.
Ezekwesili, who noted that the nation’s economy was in bad shape, said her administration would strive to create jobs which would lift over 80 million out of poverty, promising to invest massively in agriculture and give farm seedlings to women to lift them out of poverty.
According to her “Nigeria’s problem is about failure of leadership which Chinua Achebe said in his book some years back. Our youths can’t find job, there is poverty everywhere, the country has no business being poor considering its potentials. I have the capacity to take the country to the next level. I would initiate reforms which would lift more than 80 million Nigerians out of poverty and we would focus on human capital development.”
Ezekwesili, a former education minister, promised not only to invest in the curriculum of basic, secondary and tertiary education, but to do serious investment in raising quality teachers.
She promised to empower teachers by improving their remuneration, provide housing for them and ensure that public education is given the right investment it deserves.