ACN holds townhall meeting with youth
The Action Congress of Nigeria on Monday, during a town-hall meeting in Lagos, paraded before a large number of youth an array of its best candidates for the coming general elections in April.
The event had the party’s presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu and his vice, Fola Adeola, and the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola, address a number of issues raised by the youth. Questions answered ranged from education to employment and job creation. Others were power, security, and resource management.
In his opening remarks, the Lagos State governor, who is seeking a re-election for another four year term, stated that the “townhall meeting demonstrates the committement of the ACN to make democracy meaningful in Nigeria.”
Decribing himself and his vice as “the new face of Nigeria that the nation has been looking for,” Nuhu Ribadu noted that the country is currently suffering from the mismanagement of its resources and he that the first thing the ACN government will do is to “stop the bleeding immediately.”
“We will produce a honest leadership that will fix this country and make a country that we will all be proud of,” Mr. Ribadu said.
Opportunity in challenges
Acccording to Mr. Fashola, the party has defined its character ahead of what he called “an uphill task to transform the remaining 32 states of Nigeria.”
“That change can only be achieved if ACN takes over at the federal level to implement a people-focused economic strategy,” he said.
The party presently controls four states in the country.
On addressing the dilapitated standard of education across the country, Mr. Fashola said his government has just recruited graduates of key subjects that students are failing and are required to make a minimum number of credits before admission into the university. He claimed the graduates have been trained to be excellent teachers, with adequate welfare provided for them.
This he describes as seeing “opportunity in challenges by creating jobs in the education and transportation sector in a bid to address the problem.” He urged the youth to be prepared for hard work, saying “the work lies in getting our hands dirty in building our country.”
Corruption, the bane of power
Speaking on power, Mr. Ribadu, the former anti-corruption czar, noted emphatically that “the reason why we do not have power is corruption,” adding that “destroy corruption, take it out, and we will give you electricity and good health.”
He also admitted that sabotage, lawlessness, and ineptitude were responsible for the failure of the ruling party to provide power, despite spending billions of dollars on the problem.
Affirming that he was there when contracts were signed to supply materials to build power stations, Mr. Ribadu noted that up till today, the materials were yet to be supplied and the contractors, who he claimed were friends of the government, are nowhere to be found.
Mr. Adeola, who spoke on the need to tackle the lack of capacity required in the power sector, stated that “within one year, we (the ACN) will achieve something” by tackling the capacity, and start producing people who can address the issue and we will start producing power.”
The former banker explained that the party will be using a long and short term approach to address the problem, as he vowed that “the short term has to be addressed as soon as possible because it is an emergency and while that is being done, the long term approach for sustainability will be worked out.”
On the issue of security, the party’s presidential candidate said there are over 12 million Nigerian graduates roaming the streets without jobs, and he noted that the provision of jobs for this unemployed multitude will reduce crime.
He also noted that to address the issue of security, the nation’s security operatives must be empowered. This was a point corroborated by all the three aspirants, who called for a change of attitude from Nigerians to the police officers who are expected to sacrifice their lives in protecting others.
The Lagos State governor also re-stated the need for each state to have its own police force, and explained that the police force could be a good avenue to create employment if the standard of the profession can be upgraded to make it attractive for young graduates to want to build a career in the force.
The candidates all enjoined the youth to collectively build a society that will make it impossible for corrupt people to survive in the society.
The town hall meeting, which kicked off late due to delayed return of the presidential candidates from Abia State, where they went for their presidential campaign, was streamed live on the internet and broadcasted live on television.
