Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the forthcoming general election in 2023, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Sunday, painted a gloomy picture of the country. Looking at the statistics on where Nigeria presently find herself, the PDP flagbearer said the situation is ‘’grim and disappointing.’’
The flagbearer also said he was optimistic that under a PDP administration, the platform under which he is seeking to succeed Buhari, there would be turnaround for good, as his policy team would work round the clock to move the country forward.
Atiku, in a statement said after spending time with his policy think tank, the mandate of the team was to come up with a policy framework that would guide the country to a promising future. He lamented that the future was very grim, explaining that the modality for confirming this is to evaluate the country’s current performance in the areas of economy, security, education, and youth and women development.
The statement said, “But there is good news. Nigeria shall rise again! The plan to get Nigeria back to the pathway of greatness is doable. Let me share a part of the plan with you, dear friend. Whereas the ruling party will blame our adversity on some isolated global events, what they won’t tell you is that their lack of direction and political will turned our economy into its current tinderbox situation.
“So, under my plan, we are going to be more proactive in the design of social and economic policies to forestall any challenges that may arise from domestic and global crises. We will also resume the monthly sectoral dialogue in order to enhance our joint understanding of the economy.
“This is an initiative that I conceived, when I was the Head of National Economic Council as Vice President in the Obasanjo administration. The direction and leadership that we provided is the reason why the economy recorded an annual average growth of 7.7 per cent in the six years preceding the APC-led administration.
“We also recorded a yet-to-be surpassed growth of 15.3% in 2002. The average growth of 1.1 per cent of this administration contrasts sharply with the aforementioned performance of our administration. We also did much better than this administration in growing the economy, taming inflation, building foreign reserves and in debt accumulation and management.”
Atiku said the options before Nigeria in the upcoming election was a choice between the abyss where the APC had taken Nigerians and a tested capacity of the greatness that the PDP can lead Nigerians into. He said it was a choice between failure to deliver on the promises made by the APC and the tested capacity that the PDP can lead Nigerians into.
