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It is no longer news that Nigeria’s economy needs immediate revamp to save citizens from the continued excruciating pains they are undergoing owing to rising inflation, high cost of goods and services.
This might not be a period to cast aspersions but it is pertinent that there are economic models realistically propounded by some nationalists, which, to all intents and purpose, can bring an elixir.
Chief Nwaeze Onu, deputy national chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), said in an interview in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, that Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Kano State governor and Minister of Defence, could proffer solutions to the problem.
Onu, a former senatorial candidate in Ebonyi, said that Kwankwaso, a proven humanist, has a history of economic inroads, which positively impacted on the lives of the people and created stability.
Onu said, during his time as Kano State governor, Kwankwaso evolved an economic model that centred around the people. This he also promised to Nigerians in his bid to rule the country as President.
He said: “Kwankwaso improved the income level and strengthened the purchasing power of citizens. The economic revamping strategy had a 3-Deck Implementation Scheme, which included: A. Emergency Rescue Plan; B. Targeted stimulation; and C. Long-term and Sustainable investment.
“He believes that the country’s biggest resource is human, with great entrepreneural capacities in the small, medium and large-scale business segments of the society. This entrepreneural sagacity sees Nigerians controlling several business interests across African, European and American countries.
“However, it is surprising that such economic hub cannot be replicated in most industrial centres of the country where jobs can be created for the teeming populace, especially the youths.”
Onu remarked that Kwankwaso had and can still evolve an appreciable model to keep youths off the streets in search of jobs and make them gainfully employed. He said that Kwankwaso convened several investment forums as a governor, which unbundled great investment opportunities that made the Kano economy a model and changed the state’s entrepreneural landscape.
“He ensured the promotion of labour with creation of jobs at multiple levels through the economic revamping strategy. There was also a strong engagement with the youths in honing their skill-sets and providing them with necessary support.
“Being a thoroughbred administrator who believes in optimal utilisation of resources, Kwankwaso understands that energy and power are the backbones of the economy’s central nervous system.
“Being aware that growth will be stunted and development paralysed if these two economic pillars are not adequately and sustainably provided, he deployed an energy and power master-plan, which ensured availability, adequacy, sustainability, affordability and safety.”
He maintained that Kwankwaso evolved policies, which lifted people from the poverty ditch through targeted poverty alleviation and elimination strategies. This ensured that families at the bottom of the social ladder had access to food, clothing, quality education, basic healthcare, housing, etc.
“Those policies ensured that those lifted from poverty did not return to its bracket while also receiving special attention from his government. He specifically ensured that beneficiaries of his poverty elimination programmes maintained high-yielding investments as well as strategical planning to ensure overall prosperity,” he said.
