See the plans for Nigeria presented at NBA conference by Atiku, Tinubu, and Obi

See the plans for Nigeria presented at NBA conference by Atiku, Tinubu, and Obi

Alhaji Abubakar Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) all laid out their platforms for the presidency yesterday.

The presidential candidates for the African Democratic Party, Mr. Dumebi Kachikwu, the Social Democratic Party, Adewole Adebayo, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Mr. Peter Umeadi, all spoke as guests at the Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference, NBA-AGC, held in Lagos.

Kashim Shettima, Atiku Abubakar, Obi, and the other presidential contenders were there even though Tinubu was represented by his running mate.

I’ll devolve more powers to states — Atiku

Speaking at the NBA conference, Atiku said he would hand over Federal Government-owned universities to state governments.

Atiku, who stated this as a panelist at the opening ceremony of the conference, with the theme ‘’Bold Transitions’’, said the government doesn’t have infinite resources to continue to shoulder the cost of university education in the country, especially against the backdrop of the ongoing strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, which had been on for over six months.

“The only way is to make sure that you make a conducive environment available to both foreign and local investors to participate in our country, whether it is infrastructure, education, or power.

“I had an argument with a university professor from the Federal University, Lokoja. He said he read in my policy document that I intended to devolve, in other words, to return education to the states. How dare I do that?

“I said, ‘Mr. Professor, do you realize that the first set of our universities belonged to the regional governments?’ He said, ‘Yes’. I said who are the successors of the regional governments? He said the states.

“I said the children you send to America, to England, who own those universities? Mostly the private sector. So, why is it that you think we cannot do it here? We don’t have the money.”

He also said one of his major goals in vying for the 2023 general election was to unite Nigerians to fight insecurity.

Atiku, who noted that Nigerians had never been this divided in her history, uniting Nigerians remains one of his five-fold plans for the country.

He said: “Since the return of democracy, Nigeria has never been in such a critical situation as we find ourselves now. The problem of poverty, insecurity, unemployment, etc is enormous but what is important is how to tackle them.

“When PDP came into power in 1999, despite winning overwhelmingly across the country, we decided to include members of other party in our leadership. That singular action united the country and resulted in calm. I believe we can have that experience again. It is only when we have a sense of belonging that we can deal with insecurity.”

In addition, Atiku stated that if elected president, he would eliminate the multiple exchange rate and give the states more authority.

Tinubu will replicate Lagos, Borno wonders in Nigeria —Shettima

Bola Tinubu’s representative at the conference, Shettima, stated that if his principal is elected president, he will recreate the wonders in the states of Lagos and Borno.

The former Borno State governor said that he developed some of the state’s top schools while in office and added that Tinubu’s administration would deal with issues like security and the economy, among others.

He said: “Nigerians have the capability to see through the worn-out rhetoric and sophistry of pretentious politicians. Nigerians should follow the man that knows the road. From day one, we will hit the ground running. We’ll promptly address the issue of the economy, ecology, and security.

“We have the antecedents. I built some of the best schools in Nigeria. Go to Borno and see wonders; you will never believe that it is a state in a state of war.

“So, we are going to replicate our achievements in Lagos, in Borno, and some of the frontlines states so that our nation will be a better place. The fundamental issue is pure leadership.”

2023 election is not about religion, tribe but character, competence — Obi

In his presentation, Mr. Peter Obi said the 2023 election will not be about religion or tribe but character and competence in leadership.

He said: “Nigeria is in a mess. We got here simply because of the cumulative effect of bad leadership. The coming election is not about tribe or religion but about character and competence. We need a bold transition from a highly insecure state to a highly secure state.”

Obi also stated that his approach to tackling the worsening exchange rate problem in the country will be to encourage the manufacturing and export of goods and services.

CJN, Sanwo-Olu, others canvass reform of the judicial system

The conference’s other speakers, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, the governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, bestselling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and others, had earlier called for judicial reform in Nigeria in order to put the nation on the path to transformational change.

In his address, Justice Ariwoola, who was represented by Justice Kazeem Alogba, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, said that for there to be peace in Nigeria, the bar and bench must return to the times when the ethics of the legal profession were upheld and enforced.

He emphasized the importance of the judicial system to Nigeria’s survival and the need for all stakeholders to work together to defend and develop it so that it can continue to give the general public hope.

Governor Sanwo-Olu claimed that the state’s judicial system had preserved the legacies of earlier administrations in the development of legal procedure nationwide.

The governor, who was represented by the state’s Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo, stated: “We have continually transformed our structures, building new courtrooms, renovating existing ones, to create a more conducive environment for our judges and to efficiently administer justice.

“I can boldly say that no state takes the funding of judiciary as serious as Lagos State, and this is a legacy that has been sustained by successive administrations since 1999.’’

Nigeria in disarray, need heroes — Chimamanda Adichie

Ms. Adichie pointed out that Nigeria is currently in chaos and needs heroes to provide her purposeful leadership in her keynote speech, titled “Bold Transition.”

She claimed that the nation’s growing insecurity is a major issue caused by the breakdown of the rule of law.

Adichie, who also mentioned that NBA has a significant part to play in the country’s upcoming general elections, said:

“We are counting on the NBA to act as our collective social conscience in the forthcoming election in 2023.

“Nigeria is in disarray. Things are hard and getting harder by the day. We can’t be safe when there is no rule of law. Nigerians are starved of heroes to look up to. “Late Dora Akunyili and Gani Gawehimmi were heroes that Nigerians looked up to before now. Unfortunately, that era has gone. I believe that NBA is in a position to give the national heroes that we can look up to lead the nation.

“As long as we refuse to untangle the knot of injustice, peace cannot thrive. If we don’t talk about it, we fail to hold leaders accountable and we turn what should be transparent systems into ugly, opaque cults.

“My experience made me think there’s something dead in us, in our society; a death of self-awareness and ability for self-criticism.

“There’s a need for resurrection. We cannot avoid self-criticism but criticize the government. We cannot hide our institutional failure while demanding transparency from the government.’’

Adichie advocated an uncorrupted judicial system and called on the NBA to leverage technology in the judicial process and the administration of justice in the country. “Nigerians are disillusioned because they know of the decline of professionalism in some sections of the legal profession. As the NBA continues to fight the abuse of power, it must also look inward not to be corrupted.”