Atiku Abubakar,GCON On Atiku Policy Position, 13/10/2014
I am aware that you gentlemen of the Press constitute a critical partner of our efforts to establish the APC as an enduring alternative political platform with a sustainable legitimacy will be realised.
The Party, APC is envisaged by the founding fathers to develop Internal Capacity to provide this nation with a leadership that will be committed to the public purpose and whose choice will be informed by the common good and the popular will of all Nigerians.
My Declaration on the 24 th October, 2014 to present myself to Nigerians and seek nomination of APC as its Flag bearer in the 2015 Presidential Election was our first major outing. We are grateful to those of you who participated one way or the other in that Declaration Event.
It was our deliberate strategy to make the event an Interactive Session with the youths. We had made it clear to the Leadership of the Party that the event was not going to be a rally or a campaign. We chose the Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Centre, a compact but historical venue for the event. We limited the crowd as much as we could because of the intended nature of the event. We were however glad that the Party's National Working Committee sent a Delegation led by the National Secretary of the Party to witness the occasion. We wish to apologise to those who through letters and phone calls indicated their willingness to come but were excused.
We express our sincere gratitude to over 30 Youth Groups that participated in the event. Because of their contributions, they were truly the “Instrument of Change” and it was clear that it was their future that was at stake. Their submissions in respect of their pains, needs and wants constitute a major input in our Draft Policy Document.
The purpose of this Press Conference is to announce that we will be hosting a Policy Review Summit on the 27 th of October, 2014 at the Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta. The Summit will host a panellist of experts who will fine-tune the Elemental Details of the Atiku 2015 Policy Document.
The Draft Policy to be reviewed was drawn up within the context of the Manifesto of our Party, the APC.
This document provides an overview of our Policy Position.
The main thrust is the explicit bid to modify the way the machinery of Federal Government works by:
Clarifying and streamlining MDAs remits and responsibilities, removing overlaps and operational redundancies
Systematically devolving and delegating operational responsibilities to states and local governments, and private sector organisations (commercial and charitable)
Addressing habits and practices that currently compromise policy implementation
Enshrining good governance as the hallmark of his administration and
Eventually ensuring that solutions can be implemented, monitored and evaluated.
The Key Policy Areas are:
Employment Generation & Wealth Creation
Infrastructure & Power
Education & Skills Acquisition
Security
Citizenship and Governance
Agriculture & Food Security
Niger Delta & North East Re-integration
1. EMPLOYMENT GENERATION AND WEALTH CREATION
POLICY PROPOSITION :
Embark on a direct intervention throughPublic Works Programmes
Support Productive Job creation initiatives by public and private sector
Narrow Skills Gap in the labour market
Foster Women Empowerment and address the Gender-Gap job opportunities
Encourage and Promote Entrepreneurship amongst the youth
Promote local ownership of job creation initiatives
Discouraging Nepotism in jobs placement
Propose amendments to all legislations hampering effective job creation and review employment laws including labour-market deregulations.
Encouraging Venture Capital and Private Equity investors to invest in local startups.
Drawing up a new deal with Micro Household Enterprises
Enhancing the security of (commercial) contracts
Establishing an independent Competition and Anti-Trust Authority
Helping Accelerate Start up Incubation times
Introducing Business Impact Assessments
Encouraging and rewarding formalization of Micro Household Enterprises
Ensuring that Public Procurement Rules benefit capable SMEs
Promote and Facilitate non-oil exports and
Facilitate the creation of business clusters
Increased support for the informal sector
Encourage and reward banks that lend to small and mid-sized businesses.
INFRASTRUCTURE AND POWER
POLICY PROPOSITION :
Creating a Sustainable Delivery System to address the dearth of Infrastructure
Aggressively increasing the power generation, distribution and transmission capacities of the sector by strengthening the Gencos, Discos and Transco.
Creating Sustainable Funding Structures to drive Infrastructure and Power development
Leveraging Private Investment in Power co-generation capacity
Co-fund PWPs that help federal, state, and local authorities build and maintain infrastructure
Invest in local government capacity to develop and expand infrastructural provision
Review the federation account and restructure government finances to boost infrastructure development
Encourage infrastructure maintenance initiatives
Reward private efforts to maintain and upgrade basic infrastructure.
3. EDUCATION & SKILLS ACQUISITION
POLICY PROPOSITION :
Raising Educational Standards across our schools
Boosting Educational Achievements in our Primary and Secondary Schools
Encouraging and rewarding private sector to narrow skills gaps and widen participation in educational provision
Encouraging businesses to lead vocational training efforts
Encouraging business to re-train unskilled workers
Rewarding households that keep children in the school system
Encouraging the re-training of public service workers
Improving the structure and curriculum of our educational system to make it more relevant to labour market needs.
Publishing league table of performances at all levels of education
SECURITY
POLICY PROPOSITION :
Increasing the visibility of security agents
Improving access to security services
Improve Police-Community relations
Aggressively combating the scourge of Terrorism and Insurgency by increased resources and better co-ordination between the security agencies
Replace the Security Adviser with a National Security Council
Improve Civil-military relations
Pave the way for the establishment of State Police
Improve and Guaranty Rapid Emergency Response
Clarify LGA/State boundaries to pre-empt and defuse inter-communal conflicts
Improve border security
Total overhaul of national security structure.
CITIZENSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
POLICY PROPOSITION :
Offer public service users information, voice, and choice
Leverage federal transfers/devolution to expand basic service provision
Benchmark (federal) government performance transparency and accountability
Invest in local government capacity and accountability
Strengthen corporate governance
Promoting increased devolution of Powers to State and Local governments.
Establishing a link between Representation, Governance and Taxation
Ensuring a deeper appreciation of citizenship to all Nigerians
Ensure Participation and Equal Opportunity for all
Cultivating appropriate environment for unity and sense of belonging
Improving Public Sector Service Delivery
Improving Policy Formulation and Implementation
Promoting a zero tolerance attitude towards corruption.
AGRICULTURE & FOOD SECURITY
POLICY PROPOSITION:
Address the Land Use Act to improve small scale-farmers' access to land
Offer broad based support structures to farmers and small Agribusinesses
Helping farmers and Agribusinesses Agglomerate and Manage Risk
Helping farmers and Agribusinesses market their Output
Helping farmers and Agribusinesses cut their Operational Costs:
Helping farmers increase Farming Productivity
Establishing an Agricultural Fund and reinvigorate the Agric Bank of Nigeria to be able to support agricultural production and Bank of Industry for high level value addition.
Reintroducing previous viable and sustainable agricultural programmes with emphasis of rural infrastructural development, such as National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), FEAP and elements of the DFRRI.
NIGER DELTA & NORTH EAST RE-INTEGRATION
POLICY PROPOSITION:
The following initiatives will be launched to address the security and economic decline and foster socio-economic reintegration of the regions:
A Niger-Delta Continuous Development Agenda
A Niger-Delta Social Awareness program
A Niger-Delta Reform Agenda
North-East Comprehensive Economic and Infrastructure reintegration program
North-East Security Master Plan and;
North-East Social Reintegration initiative
These Policy details are to be finalized in the Summit with the emphasis that Policy Implementation will be based on a system that:
Judiciously allocates responsibilities and resources to the States and Local Governments
Promote collaborative understanding and commitment of all tiers of Government regardless of Party affiliations in a truly federal spirit with the active participation by Private Investors and Development Partners.
A date for the Unveiling of the Policy will be announced later.
We invite the Press to work with us and let the CHANGE begin!
Thank you.
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