Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a presidential candidate for the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), has said that if he wins next month’s election, he will reduce Nigeria’s high unemployment rate during his first four years in office.
On Tuesday, he spoke to party members and supporters at the U.J. Esuene Sports Stadium in Calabar as part of a presidential campaign.
“I will check youth unemployment in this country. I will reduce it by more than half if voted into power next month,” he said.
Tinubu pledged to make Nigeria affluent and to do all in his power to reverse the country’s destiny.
“Our economy is unhelpfully designed to export raw materials and import increasingly expensive finished products.
“Crude oil still provides most of our foreign exchange. As agriculture remains our traditional backbone, we will continue to consolidate it.
“However, we must acknowledge the growing importance of our urban population,” he added.
According to Tinubu, industrial activity in Nigerian cities and towns would reach a level unheard of in the country’s history.
He predicted that young people will play a major role in sparking an economic revival.
He additionally committed to changing the funding distribution between the federal and state governments to provide states more freedom to promote local economic growth.
“Our government will give priority to encouraging industries vital to national development by growing our industrial base to provide jobs to an expanding urban population,” he assured.
