…promises good fiscal policies
By Mandy Park
The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has pleaded with the organised labour to pitch tent with him in the 2023 election, promising better fiscal and monetary policies.
He also reminded them during a Townhall meeting in Abuja, yesterday, Monday 19th December, that he has an outstanding track record for good governance and was most qualified to lead Nigeria among the presidential candidates running for the office.
Tinubu said his antecedents as former Lagos State governor, during which he transformed the state and powered it to the fifth largest economy in Africa today, stands him out and made him a better candidate ahead of his competitors.
He listed the problems of unemployment, lack of credit system to allow workers own houses, poverty, challenges in educational sector, weak industrial base of the economy as what he is coming to address if he is given opportunity to serve as president of Nigeria.
Said Tinubu “Today, the questions you all must ask yourselves are these: who can be trusted to accomplish all of this? The man who has done it before, or the man whose most lasting achievement as vice president is the corrupt sale of national assets to his friends and cronies? Who has the better plan? The man whose blueprint guided the emergence of Lagos State as fifth largest economy in Africa or the man whose greatest pride is the amount of money he managed to bury in sand while his state’s infrastructure decayed and its workers suffered endless hardship? The choice is yours.”
He noted further that government had a cardinal responsibility to work not only with businesses, but also with labour to ensure that all constituent parts of the society are afforded their fair share of rewards without taking on undue hardship.
While enumerating further what stands him out from others, Tinubu said just like the labour leaders, he has been in the forefront of fighting the government for good governance all his life, a move for which he was detained and eventually forced into exile.
Speaking earlier, former Deputy President of NLC and Director of Labour Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Isa Aremu, had set the tone for the conversation when he told labour leaders and workers that the choice before them and Nigerians in next election was who among the presidential candidates is truly committed, tested and trusted to protect workers and the poor and who is ready to industrialise the country to bring back decent jobs and good pay.
Present at the meeting were Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) boss, Ayuba Wabba and Festus Osifo led the two labour associations to the event, vice presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Governors Simon Lalong (Plateau), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) and Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq (Kwara) as well as James Faleke, Secretary of the Campaign Council, among other APC leaders.
