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Atiku Abubakar
Nigeria's tale of
"potential" is an aged adage which has been employed to soothe her
people day after day.
As the nation grapples with
insecurity, economic susceptibility, and internal polarization, there is an
overwhelming argument to make that Atiku Abubakar's leadership would have been
a road that would have led the nation towards stability and prosperity.
His candidacy is not personal, but
about specific sets of policies, experience, and a vision that address
Nigeria's basic issues.
The arguments for why Atiku Abubakar
would have been the president Nigeria should have had have always been
supported by facts and hard figures.
1. One of Nigeria's most important
issue now is its economy, which is experiencing a depreciating Naira, record
inflation over decades, and extensive youth unemployment levels of over 50%
among youths aged 15-24 (according to the National Bureau of Statistics).
Atiku's recipe as a successful
pro-market, private-sector driven strategy:
• Vice-Presidency Record
(1999-2007): As Chairman, National Council on Privatization, Atiku was the
mastermind behind Nigeria's most ambitious period of economic liberalization.
This involved the privatization of key sectors like telecommunications and
cement production.
The reform of the telecoms sector,
for which he campaigned, has grown from a nil base to a sector that added
N2.508 trillion to Nigeria's GDP in Q1 of 2023 alone, according to the NBS. It
has created millions of direct and indirect jobs and revolutionized
connectivity.
That erstwhile import-dependent
cement sector is today a net exporter, thanks to Dangote Cement, BUA, and
others, which emerged from the reform period under Obasanjo/Atiku, employing
thousands and ramping up local output.
To buttress his policy consistency
initiatives, his 2023 campaign was based on an elegantly articulated 5-point
policy document, focusing on pillar No. 1, which was to "Unify the
Exchange Rate & Actively Support the Private Sector" contrary to the
ad-hoc and everywhere-travelled-by-ear fiscal policies of the government that
have chased away investment.
His plan to break the monopoly in the
power sector and attract private investment in generation and distribution is a
direct replay of his successful telecoms model.
2. A Physical Commitment to Restructuring
and National Cohesion had never been out of sight of Atiku's covenant with
Nigerians.
Nigeria's defective federal
arrangement centralizes power and resources, engendering ethnic discontent,
resource control controversy, and marginalization feelings on the part of
member states.
Atiku has always been the most unwavering proponent of restructuring. Atiku has been the most prominent national figure, party-unaffiliated, to regularly campaign for restructuring. He authored op-eds, delivered keynote addresses, and made restructuring a standard plank of every presidential campaign since 2011.
He advocates for "True
Federalism," which includes devolution of Powers; moving items like
policing, railways, and prisons to the Concurrent List from the Exclusive
Legislative List to allow states to deal with their unique security and
economic challenges.
Atiku stood firmly for true
federalism; not a hollow catchword but a required operation to rectify the
underlying causes of national inefficiency and disunity.
3. Atiku clearly understands the
mandate of Security and Education.
With more than 4,000 individuals
killed by violence in the first six months of 2024 (according to ACLED) and
vast swaths of agricultural lands made inaccessible, Nigeria's security is
under threat of its very survival.
Atiku does not just have a kinetic
reaction. He understands that security has a correlation with the economy and
jobs. By allowing the private sector to create jobs, he offers a comprehensive
solution that addresses symptoms and causes of insecurity.
Nigeria currently has over 20
million out-of-school children, an embarrassment to the nation and a security
time bomb. Atiku has never lost focus on this calamity.
His establishment of the AUN Academy
and the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, with focus on
development-oriented education and community service, is a personal, long-term
commitment to remediating educational deficits, one that would assuredly be
duplicated nationwide.
Nigerians must disregard sentiment
and ethnic mathematics and rally around a leader whose advancement plan is on
exhibit. The argument for Atiku Abubakar is not one of infallibility, but of
comparative ability in the most critical areas of national existence.
Nigerians must rally behind the
Waziri Adamawa for a better and more prosperous Nigeria because:
1. He is the Jobs President Nigeria
Needs: His proven, privately led model is the fastest way of creating millions
of jobs for our restless young people, turning a demographic time bomb into a
demographic dividend.
2. He Offers the Constitutional
Reform Nigeria Needs: His unbreakable resolve to restructuring is the catalyst
for unleashing the latent potential of all 36 states, fostering healthy
competition, and dousing embers of ethnic secessionism.
3. He Has the Experience to Ride Out
a Crisis: In a period of unprecedented economic and security crisis, Nigeria
needs a leader who has served in office during a period of successful reform,
and not an experiment.
4. He embodies a Pan-Nigerian
Vision: Being an entrepreneur with investments across all geo-political zones
and also being a politician who has built his career on broad alliances, he is
the very essence of the national, unifying figure required to heal a fractured
nation.
Atiku Abubakar represents a
tradition of experienced, pragmatic, and liberal economic leadership. For a
nation at the edge, to adopt such a line is not only preferable; it's the
option for survival and eventual prosperity. Atiku Abubakar is indeed the
president Nigeria never got, and the one she continues to deserve.
Mohammed El-Yakub writes from Yola