Ahead of the forthcoming Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi and his vice-presidential candidate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed have finally released their long-awaited 62-page campaign manifesto with a 7-point priority agenda.

The document was titled, “Our Pact with Nigerians: Creating a New Nigeria“, and unveiled Obi/Baba-Ahmed’s proposed plans to lead Nigeria out of the woods if elected as President and Vice President.

The campaign manifesto surfaced on Social Media on Saturday.

Page 3 has a 7-point agenda titled “Our commitment To Offer Honest And Competent Leadership To Deliver Our 7 Priorities” as follows:

1. To secure Nigeria, end banditry and insurgency; and unite our dear nation, to manage our diversity such that no one is left behind.
2. Shift emphasis from consumption to production by running a production-centered economy that is driven by an agrarian revolution and export-oriented industrialization.
3. Restructure the polity through effective legal and institutional reforms to entrench the rule of law, aggressively fight corruption,
   reduce cost of governance, and establish an honest and efficient civil service.
4. Leapfrog Nigeria into the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), through the application of scientific and technological innovations to create a digital economy.
5. Build expansive and world-class infrastructure for efficient power supply, rail, road and air transportation, and pipeline network, through integrated public-private partnerships, and entrepreneurial public sector governance.
6. Enhance the human capital of Nigerian youth for productivity and global competitiveness through investment in world-class
   scholarship and research, quality healthcare, and entrepreneurship
   education.
7. Conduct an afro-centric diplomacy that protects the rights of Nigerian citizens abroad and advance the economic interests of
   Nigerians and Nigerian businesses in a changing world.

Page 18 of the document itemised the joint ticket’s economic plan founded on a shift from consumption to production by running a production-centred economy that is driven by an agrarian revolution and export-oriented industrialisation.

Page 4 itemised the what they tagged “Our Action Plan” with a pledge “As your President, I Peter Gregory Onwubuasi Obi, my Vice President, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed and our team pledge to:

“• Secure and unite our dear nation, and manage our diversity such that no one is left behind in Nigeria.

“• Move Nigeria from consumption to production.

“• Embark on comprehensive legal and institutional reforms and practicable restructuring measures, to fight corruption; to ensure the enthronement of the rule of law, and decisively tackle all forms of corruption.

“• Prioritize Human Capital Development through robust
investments in STEM education, health, and infrastructural development, with emphasis on wealth creation, distribution and sustainable development.

“• Engineer the transition of Nigeria from fossil fuel dependency to climate and eco-friendly energy use.

“• Pursue holistic poverty eradication with emphasis on
agricultural revolution through effective utilization of our vast
arable lands, particularly in Northern Nigeria, and erase
Nigeria’s categorization as the poverty capital of the world.

“• Improve access to finance, particularly to MSMEs, youths and women, to significantly reduce unemployment and insecurity.

“• Ensure that in policy and practice, governance will be made more inclusive, cost-effective, transformative, and less transactional. No more sharing of the national wealth by a few.

“• Ensure that our diversity will be leveraged to give women and youths, the aged and persons with disabilities, an unfettered voice in governance, and a renewed sense of patriotism and faith in Nigeria.

“• Ensure that Nigeria is progressively better governed
through legislative, executive, and judicial reforms, so that the constitutional separation of powers among the three arms of government is entrenched and the three tiers of government allowed to function independently and jointly for a more inclusive and sustainable Nigeria.”

The presidential and vice-presidential candidates said: “Our vision is a secure, united and prosperous Nigeria that works for everyone and that realizes the hope of black people of the world as a city on the hill. We will run a government of national unity, bringing together for the task at hand, all competent, honest, and diligent Nigerians, irrespective of their political affiliations. The new Nigeria we build will be truly “one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity”where “peace and justice shall reign.”

For long, the dream of a secure, united and prosperous Nigeria has been betrayed by those who lack the character and competence to achieve the dream. Now, a new generation of Nigerian leadership has emerged, tested and tried, honest and dedicated, united in a common mission to reverse the current ugly trend of endemic poverty, insecurity, and create a better future for every Nigerian, a future defined by widespread prosperity based on high economic growth, equal access to health and educational facilities, and justice and fairness to all religious, ethnic, and social
groups.

The new Nigeria that we will build is a society where political power will no longer be used to serve the interest of the ruling class and subject
the people to chronic poverty and deprivation.

We will build a new social order where political leaders will be PUBLIC SERVANTS working for the good of the people and not predators, flourishing in the midst of extreme poverty and misery. We are building a society where citizens
are motivated to work hard, to innovate, to invent, fully assured that they will enjoy the fruits of their enterprise.

We want to create wealth for Nigeria and for every household through diligence, frugality and enterprise.

Our new Nigeria is a country all Nigerians will be proud to call home because it is an economic giant that can feed its citizens, defend them
from any aggression and secure them in their homes and businesses.

We are coming to run an entrepreneurial state
able to double Nigeria’s GDP in a short time and abolish extreme poverty like China that removed 740m from poverty through economic policy that emphasized social
market.

Our focus is to ensure that wealth is created through sectors that improve the wellbeing of all Nigerian citizens. Our theory of change is DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP.

Therefore, we will prioritize economic and social rights under Chapter 2 of the Constitution and implement these rights through social programs and projects that empower the people and mainstream the poor first in access to critical services. To ensure povertyreduction, based on fast economic growth, our
governance principles, priority projects and programmes will be anchored on the 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Securing and uniting Nigeria and growing her economy requires steady and trusted hands.

It is a full-time employment on behalf of Nigerian people. It is not time for rent-seeking or absenteeism. It is time to pull the sleeves, bend down and lift the weight off the shoulders of Nigerians.

I, Peter Gregory Onwubuasi Obi and my running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed,
promise you that we will be the leaders you can trust to be honest, diligent, and ever-present to work for you.

This is our promise to you: we will work for you with ‘pure hearts and skillful hands”.

So, help us God.

StreetReporters.ng

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