Our roadmap designed to address every problem of Nigeria – Lai Mohammed

The All Progressives Congress (ACP) has insisted that it has all it takes to take Nigeria to the height that the world would begin to reckon with her in terms of her quality offerings on the global stage.

Lai Mohammed, national publicity secretary of the party, who disclosed this in an exclusive chat with BD SUNDAY recently, emphasised that the party, in a well-crafted roadmap had captured the needs and aspirations of citizens of Nigeria, assuring that it was determined to address all the problems the country has been grappling with for so long, if voted into power in 2015.

The lawyer-turned politician, who made reference to the party’s Roadmap launched in March in Abuja, said the document, which could also be referred to as its draft manifesto, was the first of its kind in the history of Nigeria.

He explained that the roadmap was a product of research, a careful study of the yearnings, needs and aspirations of the Nigerian people.

“This is the first time in the history of politics in this country that a political party will arrive at a roadmap how it hopes to fix a nation through a scientific method or research, and we did so by carrying the people along. We first sent out a team to do a thorough study on Nigeria. What is their view about the government in Nigeria; what is the most single important need of the people; what are the things they need from a government; what do they want from those representing them in government and many others? From the analysis of the research, we now know that the number one need of the people is job, job and job,” he said.

Shortly after the launch in March, the APC national spokesman, said: “When we come to power, we shall create job, fight corruption, we shall improve the welfare of all Nigerians, and return Nigeria to the path of a greater nation; that’s what the road map entails. And everything in that roadmap, every policy there must be tested –will it create job, will it cater to the needs and interest of every Nigerian? Whether we are talking about job creation, fighting corruption, healthcare, education, agriculture, housing, social welfare, peace and security- that is what the roadmap is all about, and that’s what APC is promising Nigerians.”

“What we have done through our roadmap is to identify that the major problem of Nigeria today is job, job, and job. We have been able to identify through our research that one in four Nigerians is unemployed; that half of our youths are unemployed; we have 10 million children of school-going age out of school; we have half of our primary school leavers unable to read. So, what is our answer to this? We are introducing one meal a day for primary school pupils. We are going to have a scheme for quality education for all primary schools. As an incentive, anybody pursuing sciences, technology or mathematics will be entitled to scholarship at tertiary level, with special attention to education of women. We shall encourage people who are majoring in Education by giving them scholarships and stipends while doing their service,” he added.

Speaking further on what the party holds for Nigerians, Mohammed had explained: “We would create 20,000 jobs in every state immediately, subject to the willingness of the people to subscribe or enroll in vocational training or technology. Every year, we are going to have a guaranteed free medical care for our people; we will ban any expenditure on the part of government for anybody to go abroad to seek medical help, we will encourage our medical partners abroad to come and set up their practice here with good incentives. We may not be the messiah, but I, tell you that we are prepared to make life better for every Nigerian.”

It would be recalled that in the roadmap, APC noted inadequate housing as one of the major challenges facing Nigeria, pledging that it is “committed to increasing the supply of quality housing through a policy of social housing for the poor and vulnerable and affordable housing for working-class Nigerians.”

As part of its social housing plan, the party said it would achieve the construction of one million low-cost houses within four years for the poor. It also promised affordable housing. To achieve this, it hopes to “minimise income as a barrier for people to live in a safe and affordable home, by increasing access to financing and promoting a working national residential mortgage market as a matter of urgency, so that Nigerians of varying income levels can access affordable mortgages at single-digit interest rates based on federal guarantees to the mortgage lenders.”

During the chat with BD SUNDAY, Mohammed deplored the reduction of political issues in the country to ethnicity and religion, noting that though they are part of our existence as a country, they must not however, be exaggerated to the detriment of the country.

He said: “I wonder why some people keep saying that APC is a Moslem party. That Buhari happens to be Moslem, Tinubu happens to be a Moslem, and El-Rufai also a Moslem, does that make the party a Moslem party? There was a day I saw on the front page of a national newspaper, Jonathan, his wife, Anenih, secretary to the government of the federation, Senate president, and the chief of staff to the President; does that make me to say the party is a Christian party?”

He further explained that Nigerians must begin to realise the simple truth of the dynamics of politics in the country given the religious beliefs of different people across the country.

“There’s no way for instance, a Moslem can be governor in states like Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Ebonyi, Anambra, etc. The same way, there’s no way a Christian can be governor in Sokoto, Borno, Kano or in Zamfara. We must get this correct. In South West, religion is never an issue, but in South East and South-South, there’s no way a Moslem can win as governor there,” he said.

On the reported truce between the Federal Government and members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram in relation to cease-fire and eventual release of the abducted Chibok school girls by the insurgents, Mohammed said the said abduction remained a mystery to him.

He wondered how Boko Haram could have successfully made away with such a large number of girls in a state where there is supposedly emergency rule, and where soldiers were supposed to be parading.

“Recently, during the Ramadan, I sent my driver to Ilorin with some bags of rice. When he got to Ibadan, police stopped him and asked him how he came about the rice because he had no receipts. He had to be delayed. They in touch with me, and I had to call the chief press secretary to the Oyo State governor, who now went to clear him. That was just rice; we are talking about 250 girls loaded into vehicles in a region that is supposedly militarised. We were told that their vehicle broke down and they took their time to fix it and disappeared with the girls without any challenge from anybody. What are we talking about? I am still shocked. I believe that when those girls are released, they will talk and this country will be shocked,” he said.

Zebulon Agomuo