I Won't Make Promises But Policies -Atiku

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, turned emotional on Monday while launching his campaign for next year election, reflecting on how he rose from being an orphan selling firewoods on the streets of Jada, Adamawa state, to become an influential personality.

Atiku is pushing to oust incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who wrestled power from Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

In a speech broadcast live on his Facebook page, Atiku who served as Vice President between 1999-2007, attributed his rise to prominence to the Nigeria system which works for him, saying he owes it a duty to make the country works for others.

“I started out as an orphan selling firewood on the streets of Jada in Adamawa, but God, through the Nigerian state, invested in me and here I am today. If Nigeria worked for me, I owe it as my duty to make sure that Nigeria also works for you,” he said.

The former vice president maintained his focus of seeking the top office in the country is getting Nigeria to work again, knocked the Buhari led government of worsening the situation of the people than it met it four years ago.

“The most important question in this election is: Are you better off than you were four years ago? Are we richer or poorer?” he asked.

“I am not making grandiose promises. Rather than promises, I believe in policies.

“A promise is an indication to do a future action. A policy is a plan to achieve future goal. As the International Monetary Fund stated very recently, it is the failure of this government to have a coherent and comprehensive set of policies combined with poor leadership that has led to its failure to deliver.

“Over the last 18 months, I have worked with the best experts Nigeria has to offer to come up with policies and plans that when implemented will get Nigeria going in the right direction again.”

Atiku said while he was vice-president between 1999 and 2007, he chaired the national economic council that “gave Nigeria her highest and most consistent GDP growth of over 6% per annum”.

If elected, Atiku said he will be proactive in attracting investment and supporting the small and medium scale enterprises across Nigeria for the purpose of doubling the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.

The policy document which went viral on Sunday, detailed how Atiku planned to handle most of the challenges confronting Nigeria, including his idea of actively involving the private sector to create employment for the surging population of the country.

He also shared his plan to partially privatized state-owned oil firm, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and concession ports as well as cut corporate income tax to encourage investments in the country.