Pastor Tunde Bakare, a Presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has promised to achieve a sustained double-digit growth rate that will triple Nigeria’s GDP to $1.5trillion if elected as Nigeria’s next president.
He disclosed this during an exclusive interview with The Cable on Thursday.
He revealed that he would launch the Nigerian Geo-economic Development Plan on the first day of his administration.
What the presidential aspirant is saying about his plans
He said, “Nigeria’s diverse economic potential which is spread across her geo-economic zones, I will launch the Nigerian Geo-economic Development Plan on the first day of my administration.
“With this plan, we will achieve a sustained double-digit growth rate that will triple Nigeria’s GDP to $1.5trillion and place the country among the top 16 economies in the world by 2030.
“The low economic productivity and the neglect of the real sector, especially manufacturing, were responsible for the mounting public debt, which the Debt Management Office put at close to N40trillion as of 2021.”
On national security, the cleric promised to restructure the national security architecture to protect herdsmen, farmers, traders and the common people if elected.
He explained that the nation is beset by regional, national and foreign security threats and promised to bring the security apparatus closer to the people.
The cleric stated that under his administration, Nigeria would be a net exporter of refined petroleum products and the price of fuel would significantly reduce in two years.
“If I am elected President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, I will rebuild our national security architecture on the foundation of a new philosophy that brings national security apparatus closer to the people.
“My national security philosophy will accord the security of the cattle owner in Gusau, the farmer in Makurdi and the trader in Onitsha the same importance as the security of the President.
“If I am elected President, we will deploy the right mix of policies towards achieving progress and prosperity with our petroleum resources.
“My first focus in this regard will be to make domestic refining work optimally. With the Dangote Refinery expected to produce 50 million litres of petrol and 15 million litres of diesel daily, Nigeria’s daily consumption of petroleum products will be met through domestic production.
“This will eliminate import dependency and position Nigeria to benefit from global surges in crude oil prices. It simply shows the need to reform the sector for competitive private sector participation.
“While these reforms are ongoing towards domestic refining and the optimisation of the full value chain of petroleum resources, I will adopt a transparent and phase removal of fuel subsidy alongside targeted safety nets such that Nigerians will not feel the effect of subsidy removal. In about two years, Nigeria will be a net exporter of refined petroleum products and the price of fuel will significantly reduce,” he added.
In case you missed it
- Nairametrics had reported that the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.11% (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2022, indicating the sixth consecutive quarter of positive growth by the Nigerian economy.
- This is according to the recently released Gross Domestic Report, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
- The Q1 2022 growth rate was higher than the 0.51% growth rate recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 by 2.60% points and lower than 3.98% recorded in Q4 2021 by 0.88% points.
- However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, real GDP contracted by 14.66% in Q1 2022 compared to Q4 2021, reflecting a lower economic activity than the preceding quarter.
