Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the New
Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), says he will block all leakages and wasteful
spending if elected.
Kwankwaso spoke at the presidential debate organised by the
Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG) in collaboration with the Broadcasting
Organisation of Nigeria (BON) in Abuja, on Sunday.
The former governor of Kano said his government would create
an enabling environment for affordable and reliable electricity, and
transportation infrastructure for Nigerians to establish businesses.
He said Nigeria has the needed resources to grow its
economy.
“In 1999, when I was
elected as governor of Kano and sworn in, we had piles of debts, within four
years I was able to settle them,” he said.
“In those four years, we did not borrow any kobo. We did so
much in terms of projects or programmes in the education, agriculture, and
health sectors.
“We electrified over 400 towns and villages. In fact, when
we left government, even when I went back, eight years after, I could only do
very little because most, if not all the towns and the villages in Kano have
been electrified.
“I can tell you that
in our government, eight years that I was the governor, there was no security
vote. I wasn’t taking one naira for anything.
“All areas of wastage from the family to friends, to this
and that, we stopped it. Projects and programmes, as an engineer myself, I was
going through every document to ensure value for money.”
Kwakwanso, a former minister of defence, said he had spent
17 years as a civil servant and 30 years as a politician which makes him the
best candidate for the job.
“I thank almighty God that today I am standing and I believe
Kwankwaso is the best candidate, I am the best person under our circumstances
to be the president of Nigeria,” he said.
“I am a well-prepared
person for the job. Kwankwaso is not the type who is in a hurry to be
president. In 2007, I was in the civil service for 17 years.
“I was the deputy speaker, House of Representatives; I was
in the Constitutional Conference; I was Governor, and I was a Minister of
Defence. But I went back to Kano because I had an uncompleted job.
“So, I believe today, in terms of qualification, in terms of
even health, in terms of capacity, in terms of experience, of course.”
Kwankwaso said his government would create an enabling
environment for affordable and reliable electricity, and transportation
infrastructure for Nigerians to establish businesses.
On agriculture, Kwankwaso said his administration would
support the farmers and tackle the insecurity that has prevented them from
going to their farms.
He said his government would give the needed support to the
military, the way it was done when he was the minister of defence.
“I can tell you that when I was minister, we did all that we
could for our military men and women in terms of their welfare, equipment,
training, and retraining,” he said.
“We provided the
military from second lieutenant to the highest four-star general, vehicles, at
a subsidised price and other ranks, motorcycles.”
‘EMPLOY MORE HEALTH
PERSONNEL TO SOLVE BRAIN DRAIN’
Kwankwaso said he believes health insurance is very
important and the government must consider it as the way out.
“We should be empowered to ensure that people, as many as
possible in this country benefit from modern healthcare systems,” he said.
“We’re going to do it
and we’re going to encourage the private sector. Create a conducive atmosphere
with all sorts of encouragement to ensure that they participate.
“We need to see more teaching hospitals for the private
sector, other bottlenecks created by our professional bodies have to be
removed.”
Kwankwaso said his administration has plans to address the
challenge of brain drain by employing enough health experts to meet Nigeria’s
needs if elected.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com