At the event organised by the Nigerian Election Debate Group
(NEDG), the candidates addressed issues of corruption, insecurity, political
indiscipline and impunity.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who participated in the second
session of the debate and later met with youths in Lagos, assured Nigerians
that the general elections, rescheduled for March 28 and April 11, 2015, would
hold.
Other candidates, in the second sessions of the debate with
Jonathan, were Prof. Comfort Oluremi Shonaya of the KOWA Party, Martins Onovo
of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Godson Okoye of the United Democratic
Party (UDP), and United Progressive Party’s (UPP’s) Chekwas Okorie.
The first session of the debate had featured seven
presidential candidates. The candidates are the Adebayo Ayeni of the African
Peoples Alliance (APA); Chief Sam Eke, Citizen Popular Party (CPP); Ambrose
Albert Owuru, Hope Democratic Party (HDP); Ganiyu Galadima, Allied Congress
Party of Nigeria (ACPN); Nani Ibrahim Ahmad African, Democratic Congress (ADC);
Rafiu Salau, Alliance for Democracy (AD); and Tunde Anifowoshe-Kelani of the
Action Alliance (AA)
However, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Major-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), was absent at the second
session where he had been scheduled to appear. The All Progressives Congress
Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) said unfolding events have
justified its decision to stay away from the presidential campaign debates, due
to the disagreement among the organisers.
All the presidential candidates responded to questions
posed by a team of panelists, including the Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Martins
Oloja, on issues of corruption, education, petroleum and gas resource,
agriculture as well as insecurity and rehabilitation of victims of insurgency.
On anti-graft campaign, Jonathan said the solution should be
more of preventive than punitive. Explaining why punitive measures in curbing
corruption had been ineffective, President Jonathan cited the age-long futility
in using capital punishment to discourage armed robbery in Nigeria. The
President also listed other measures such as giving people a fresh orientation
on virtues of honesty and hard work as well as the evil of the get-rich-quick
syndrome, which, he noted, had permeated all strata of the Nigerian society.
He said the introduction of the electronic payroll system
now being adopted in the private sector, was one of such preventive measures
that had stopped corruption in the civil service.
KOWA Party’s Oluremi said that corruption was not an act of
God but a deliberate action by the corrupt to pocket monies meant for the
development of the country.
She advised that public offices should be made less
attractive and lamented that Nigerian public office holders earned much more
than their counter parts in developed countries.
She advocated the system of reward for hard work as against
favouritism and over reliance on godfatherism.
Okorie suggested that declaration of assets by public office
holders be monitored on yearly basis, adding that security votes which were
often abused should be cancelled.
He also said that the immunity clause in the constitution
should be removed.
In Okoye’s view, the problem of corruption arose because the
socio-political economy has failed to reward competence, ability and merit.
On insecurity, Jonathan listed steps taken to ensure that
victims of terrorism were rehabilitated. He said that, apart from normal
government interventions through the National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA), his administration had launched the private sector approach by
appointing a committee headed by Gen. Theophilus Danjuma ( rtd) to manage funds
donated by private individuals to alleviate the sufferings of the victims.
Jonathan said the “Presidential Initiative on North East”
was another step taken to address the problem created by insurgents in that
zone.
The President also stated that the Save School Initiative
which was introduced to take care of the educational problems created by the
insurgents would be sustained if re-elected.
But Oluremi, however, stressed that her ultimate desire was
for the Chibok girls to be brought back safely.
Okorie lamented the delay by government in motivating the
military.
Okoye, however, commended government’s efforts in
recapturing some local governments ceased by the terrorists.
On the oil sector and the challenges posed by gas flaring,
Jonathan insisted that once the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is passed into
law, challenges relating to the management of the downstream sector would be
dealt with.
Saying that his government is striving to create the
enabling environment to encourage the private sector to participate in the
downstream sector of the petroleum industry, Jonathan disclosed that a contract
had been awarded for the purchase of a technological equipment that would curb
oil bunkering and theft.
For Onovo, who wondered why government would “waste” N700
billion to subsidise the importation of fuel, the privatisation of the
downstream sector was needless, adding that he would ensure that the country’s
refineries were made functional if elected into office. He believed that once
the refineries are fixed, a litre of fuel could sell for as low as N7 in the
country.
Oluremi expressed concern over the fall in the price of a
barrel of crude oil in the international market, adding that there was need to
involve the private sector to rejig the oil sector. Applauding the success
story in the Liquidified Natural Gas (LNG), she insisted that rather than
contract ex-militants to watch over oil pipelines and crude oil on the high
seas, such responsibility should be left with the country’s security agencies
statutory empowered to do so.
Okorie said the non-passage of the PIB bill which should
have addressed the issues bedevilling the petroleum sector was a scandalous
act.
Galadima has said if elected as the president of the
country, he would do away with the national grid by ensuring that every state
was allowed to generate its own electricity.
Speaking specifically on the problems bedevilling power
generation in the country which has had adverse effect on the economy, Galadima
said that allowing states to generate their own power supply would be the
solution to the epileptic power supply in the country and would revive the
economy.
On oil theft, Ahmad said that Nigeria had lost several
billions of money because most powerful men in the country were involved in the
nefarious oil bunkering activity and that as the president, he would start a
process that would trace every stolen oil in the country with the support of
the international community.
In collaboration with the position of the ADC candidate,
Owuru, also accused oil companies, the army, the navy and the police for being
behind oil bunkering but vowed that vandals and oil theft would not happen
under the watch of his government.
He said that he would undertake surveillance of the oil
vessels to ensure that the country was no longer embarrassed as much as
complaining that vandals were stealing the oil.
Eke said that security operatives would be well equipped to
secure the water ways and that the oil companies would be made to live up to
their corporate social responsibility in their host communities, among others.
A statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity of
the APC campaign, Mallam Garba Shehu yesterday , noted that sordid details
coming out of organisations of the debate would have tainted Buhari had he
presented himself to the group.
A civil society group with knowledge of the working of the
NEDG, Value and Integrity Group alleged at a press conference on Friday, that a
First Bank account opened for the NEDG had the founder of a private television
network as sole signatory, even though he is not listed as one of the directors
of the NEDG.
The group also alleged that the leading private television’s
network address was used for the documentation of the First Bank account
instead of the NEDG’s office address.
According to leaders of the Value and Integrity Group, Sina
Odugbemi and Popoola Ajayi, co-ordinator and secretary respectively, “an
initial deposit of N1 million was paid into the said First Bank account, and on
March 28, 2011, another N20 million belonging to the NEDG was paid into the
personal account of the said founder of the leading private television
network.”
“We at the APC Presidential Campaign got the eye-opening
news of the press conference by the Value and Integrity Group accusing the
Nigeria Election Debate Group, the crux of the allegation being that some
members of the NEDG have been monetarily influenced.
“Although the group failed to mention from what source the
monies came from, we had taken a position, based on intelligence made available
to us that the PDP has compromised the integrity of an unnamed few in the NEDG
with huge and ridiculous sums of money.
“And watching President Jonathan reading from a prepared
script gleefully as he answered questions in the debate confirmed our suspicion
that there will be “EXPO”.
“Without a fore-knowledge of the question to be asked, how
did the president come with prepared answers?
Meanwhile, President Jonathan, shortly after the Abuja
debate, moved to Lagos, where he further sold the PDP manifesto and his
development plans to youths. The event was attended by the crème of Nigeria’s
entertainment industry, celebrities, students and other young Nigerians.
Source:Guardianng
No comments:
Post a Comment