ALL Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has promised to build a vibrant economy that will achieve double-digit growth when he becomes Nigeria’s president.
Tinubu said this in his speech at the 7th edition of Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit (KadInvest 7.0) on Saturday in Kaduna.
The APC presidential standard-bearer hailed Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai for raising the bar in attracting investments to the state the same way he did in Lagos over 20 years ago.
“It is a great honour for me to be invited to give a speech on this occasion and it was a great pleasure listening to Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i as he shared with us the vision of how Kaduna State will attract and sustain investments.
“I would like to congratulate Kaduna State on this special occasion of the 7th edition of Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit (KadInvest 7.0). The theme for this year – Building a Resilient Economy – is very timely and appropriate. In a period of uncertainty in the global economy, it is important that we pursue a path of economic independence and insulation from global headwinds.
“I am particularly happy to be in an economic summit such as this. It reminds me of when we initiated Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit more than 20 years ago in Lagos State. Through the summit, Lagos State has been able to deliver landmark developmental projects in power generation, critical road infrastructure, street lightning, and clean energy initiative amongst others.
“I will marshal a team of the most talented of Nigerians – men, women and youths – no matter their tribe and affiliations, to reset our nation on a path to achieve double-digit economic growth within a couple of years. We will do this through a coordinated set of policies in key sectors.
“We will champion an efficient government that will eliminate revenue and expense leakages across all Federal Government areas, leveraging technology, which will be increasingly embedded into government operations. In oil & gas, we will prioritise gas distribution and availability to power our industries.
“In agriculture, we will provide incentives for investments, machinery and equipment, expand and empower commodity boards, enhance our strategic grains reserves, encourage the formation of farm cooperatives and expand the scope and depth of access to finance for our farmers.
“In housing, we will introduce policies that will make it easier to transfer title and carry out transactions on landed properties. We will work with the private sector to significantly expand mortgage financing and we will provide credits and incentives to encourage real estate developers.”
“We will champion an effective government that will block revenue leakages for proper accountability.”
However, Tinubu jokingly said,” if you leave me on the podium I will continue to campaign. He then begged Elrufai not to run away from Nigeria in 2023, saying,” because we need your creativity at this critical time.”
Elrufai then came to the podium and said, “I promise to stay even on part time basis.”
