Atiku, Obi, Shettima roll out campaign plans at NBA conference

Presidential candidates of the People’s Democratic Party, Abubakar Atiku; Labour Party, Peter Obi and Vice-Presidential Candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress, Kashim Shettima have hinted to the public about their plans for the Nigerian economy and security situation if elected into office.

The 2023 President hopefuls spoke as guests on the sub-theme: “Democratic Transitions in 21 st Century Nigeria: 2023 and beyond” at a plenary session of the ongoing NBA Annual General Conference in Lagos.

What did each say?
Speaking on behalf of the APC flag bearer, Bola Tinubu, former Borno state Governor and Vice presidential Candidate of the APC, Kashim Shettima said Tinubu will deploy his “mastery of financial management capabilities” in revamping the economy of the country, while he would use his eight-year experience of tackling Boko Haram in Borno to deal with banditry and insurgency. He also reiterated the need to boost the nation’s troops to at least 960,000. On their economic plans, Shettima said they will diversify the economy. “An important tool for growing the economy is diversification of sources of income,” he said.

The Atiku Plan
On his part, candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar said that tackling the country’s problem is important. He identified five key areas that require immediate actions irrespective of the party or candidate that wins the election next year. “My five points that are illuminated are all interrelated from unity to security, economy to the devolution of power,” Atiku said. He also emphasized his belief in restructuring through power devolution. “More resources, more power to the states,” he added.
On his economic plans for the country, Atiku stressed the need to stabilize the economy by abolishing multiple exchange rates.

Obi restates the consumption-to-production promise
Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi bemoaned the numerous challenges facing the country, blaming the situation on lousy leadership failure over the years. He said the only way to stabilize the naira is for the Nigerian economy to “move from consumption to a production economy.”

Peter Obi added that “Nigerians need an urgent transition from being a highly insecure country to a secure country, from a disunited country to a united country, from corruption to a successful country, from a country of lawlessness to a country of law and order.” The former Anambra state Governor stated that to come out of this situation Nigeria currently finds itself, it needs to have a visionary, articulated and competent leadership to start turning things around.