Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president of Nigeria and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, released his five-point policy agenda which promises to restore Nigeria’s fractured unity, as well as rebuild the nation’s battered economy.

The policy document tagged, ‘My Covenant with Nigerians,’ is an updated version of his 2019 presidential election campaign document.

The policy document released ahead of the 2023 general election and also envisioned tackling the current insecurity challenges to guarantee the safety and security of lives and property, build a dynamic economy for prosperity, restructure the polity to foster unity and stability, as well as provide quality education.

Below are the five focal point of Atiku’s Manifesto.

National Security: Atiku said his government would reactivate meaningful registration at birth as a way of reducing crime rate and protecting Nigerians. Also, the PDP flag bearer said he would rely mainly on alternative approaches to dispute resolution, as against relying mainly on a kinetic approach to crush insurgency. He also promised to make state governments more viable as centres of development, by decentralizing security institutions, promising to deal decisively with terrorism, kidnapping, and other crimes.

National Integration and Unity: He believes that “Nigeria’s unity has never been so threatened as it is now,” adding that an “increasing number of Nigerian citizens openly challenge their allegiance to Nigeria’s corporate existence through violent agitations and misguided demands for ethnic-regional autonomy because of widespread feelings of marginalization and neglect.” He promises to address these issues and to restore unity to
the Nigerian polity.

Education: A key component of the policy aims at improving and strengthening the education system and equipping students with all the necessary skills needed to be competitive in the new global order which is driven by innovation, science, and technology.

Economic Development: The policy document also itemised Atiku’s plans to restore the nation’s economy back to the pre-2015 levels. Atiku revealed that his agenda was guided by three basic principles: Reaffirming the criticality of private-sector leadership, greater private sector participation in development; and repositioning the public sector to focus on its core responsibility. Additionally, the PDP presidential flagbearer proposes to break government monopoly in all infrastructural sectors, including refineries, rail transportation and power transmission.

He assures further that the market will determine prices, and as a result, “the persistent price distortions occasioned by current interventionist exchange rate management policy shall be eliminated.”

True Federalism: He also promises to address the vexed issue of “restructuring” when he noted that “Nigeria has continued to operate a faulty, complex federal structure with a high degree of centralization at the centre.” For him, “The Federal Government has succeeded in accumulating many responsibilities which belonged to the other levels of government.

Finally, Atiku urged citizens “to hold him accountable if he fails to deliver on his social contract with Nigerians.”

Let's verify the covenant of development in your own L.G.A in Adamawa State and your track records as former Vice President and former Customs Comptroller General

We are tired of being lied to