•Obi: I’m ready to channel subsidy funds to the key sectors Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha, Adedayo Akinwale, Udora Orizu, Emameh GabrielIt was a battle of ideas, yesterday, at the third in a series town hall meeting, organised by the Arise News Channel and its partners, where three of the leading presidential candidates – the Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s Peter Obi and the New Nigeria Peoples Party’s Rabiu Kwankwaso – took on four critical issues of poverty, education,...
The candidates, however, aired their views, in sync with their manifestos, on how they planned to address those issues, which were considered germane to the development of the country, post-2023.Atiku, while speaking to Nigerians, assured the people that if elected president next year, his administration would ensure that poverty rate in the country was reduced to the barest minimum.
Assuring the Nigerian people that he would provide them with his health status if need be, the PDP presidential candidate said, he might not be able to use Nigeria’s healthcare facilities, because there were limitations that needed to be addressed. “The most important thing is education – to get our kids educated. And not only educated but rightly educated. And then they can make themselves available to the private sector for growth, which is the engine room of the economy. When we were in power, the poverty rate was not this high.
“On poverty, the poverty rate wasn’t high as this. Nigerians should be fair to PDP. We have got all the statistics both national and international, the most important thing emphasised by Peter and Rabiu is education. We have to get our kids educated by the time you educate them, you find that they become readily available to the private sector, who should be the engine of growth,” Atiku said.
“Another area is that we make sure we continue with the policies we have set, for instance started removing subsidies, when we were in office, we removed subsidies in four quarters. After we left, the whole thing froze; nobody had the courage in leadership to continue. His words: “Nigerians should vote for me, because one, I started as a civil servant. I have an experience of civil service bureaucracy for 20 years. Thereafter, I began my political career, the fight for democracy.
He also faulted the rising cases of medical tourism, especially, by the political class in the country, saying those aspiring for political offices were expected to make their health status public.