By Friday Obande and Adoki Patience
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar, has stated that his plans to restructure Nigeria is meant to increase the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of both Federal / state governments of the federation.
Atiku who made this revelation on his twitter handle @atiku during the launch of his presidential campaign on Monday, also shared a narrative of his childhood, growing up as an orphan selling firewood back in Jadda, Adamawa state.
He promised to better the course of Nigeria for all Nigerians in areas of job creation where he promised 2.5 million jobs within his first two years in office, the development of about 50 million SMEs, poverty alleviation, as well as women empowerment if voted into power, adding that it was high time the country worked again for its own sustenance.
The ex-Vice President said :
“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.
“Today we will begin the process of sharing our policies that form my plan to create jobs, restructure the polity, and Get Nigeria Working Again.
“If elected President, I will be pro-active in attracting investments and supporting the 50 million small and medium scale enterprises across Nigeria for the purpose of doubling the size of our Gross Domestic Product to US$900 billion by 2025.
“These investments will create a minimum of 2.5 million jobs annually and lift at least 50 million people from poverty in the first 2 years. “My team and I will also help create jobs by innovating flagship programmes such as the National Open Apprenticeship Programme through which we shall enhance the capacity of Master-Craftsmen and women to train 1,000,000 new apprentices every year.
“Our National Innovation Fund and SME Venture Capital Fund initiatives will provide stable and sustainable long-term support to aspiring entrepreneurs.
