The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has restated his plan to sell all of Nigeria’s refineries to businessmen if elected in 2023.
Atiku stated this during a special interview with the Voice of America (VOA Hausa) during his visit to Washington DC, America.
His statement was in reaction to a report from Bloomberg Business on Saturday that Nigeria will soon have the highest unemployment rate on Earth, with an over 33 per cent rate.
He said, “My position on this is not new, I already said years ago, I will sell them because if you give them to the businessmen, they will run these refineries better.
“I have never felt so bad at being proven right, as I am by the report from Bloomberg Business on Saturday, March 27, 2021, that Nigeria is to emerge as the nation with the highest unemployment rate on Earth, at just over 33%.
“We warned about this, but repeated warnings by myself and other patriots were scorned. And now this.
“How did Nigeria get here? We got here by abandoning the people-centred leadership and free trade and deregulatory policies of the Obasanjo years (which saw us maintain an almost single-digit unemployment rate) and implementing discredited command and control policies that have led to massive capital flight from Nigeria.
“And even with the paucity of funds, we continue to ramp up government involvement in sectors that ought to be left to the private sector, with the latest being the ill-advised $1.5 billion so-called rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery that has failed to turn a profit for years.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader suggested that a stipend should be given to every family monthly to cater for the academic needs of their wards.
“In 2020, I recommended that to immediately and drastically bring down youth unemployment, every family in Nigeria with at least one school-age child, and earning less than $800 per annum should receive a monthly stipend of 5000 Naira from the government via their BVN and NIN on the condition that they verifiably keep their children in school.
“My recommendation still stands and stands even stronger now that we have crossed the rubicon in youth unemployment.
“If we can get the 13.5 million out-of-school Nigerian children into school, we will turn the corner in one generation. If we do not do this, then the floodgates of unemployment will be further opened next year, and in the years to come.”
