By Roland Ike, Abakaliki
It is no longer news that Nigeria’s economy needs immediate revamping to save citizens the excruciating pains they are presently undergoing owing to rising inflation – high cost of goods and services.
This might not be a period to cast aspersions but it is pertinent to note that there are economic models realistically propounded by some nationalists which in all intents and purpose, can bring an elixir.
These were the views expressed by Chief Nwaeze Onu, Deputy National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in an interview in Abakaliki during which he said that Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso, former Kano State Governor, Minister of Defence can proffer solutions to the problem.
Onu, a former Senatorial Candidate in Ebonyi State described Kwakwanso as a proven Humanist with a history of economic in roads which positively impacted on the lives of the people and created economic stability in the polity.
According to him during his stint as Kano State Governor, Kwakwanso evolved an economic model which centered around the people. This he also promised to Nigerians in his bid to rule the country as its President.
“Kwakwanso improved the income level and strengthened the purchasing power of citizens. His economic revamping strategy had a 3-Deck Implementation Scheme: Emergency Rescue Plan, Targeted stimulation and Long-Term and Sustainable investment.
“He believes that the country’s biggest resource is human with great entrepreneural capacities in the small, medium and large scale business segments of the society. This entrepreneural sagacity sees Nigerians controlling several business interests across African, European and American countries.
“However, it is surprising that such economic hub can not be replicated in most industrial centers of the country where jobs can be created for the teeming populace especially youths.”
Onu remarked that Kwakwanso had and can still evolve an appreciable model to keep youths off the streets in search of jobs and make them gainfully employed. He said that Kwakwanso convened several investment forums as a governor which unbundled great investment opportunities that made the Kano economy, a model which changed the state’s entrepreneural landscape.
“He ensured the promotion of labour with creation jobs at multiple levels through the economic revamping strategy. There was also a strong engagement with youths in honing their skill-sets and providing them with necessary support.
“Being a thorough-bred administrator who believes in optimal utilisation of resources, Kwakwanso understands that energy and power are the backbones of the economy’s central nervous system.
“Being aware that growth will be stunted and development paralysed if these two economic pillars are not adequately and sustainably provided, Kwakwanso deployed an energy and power master-plan which ensured availability, adequacy, sustainability, affordability and safety.”
Onu maintained that Kwakwanso evolved policies which lifted people from the poverty ditch through targeted poverty alleviation and elimination strategies. This ensured that families at the bottom of the social ladder had access to food, clothing, quality education, basic healthcare and housing, among other facilities.
“Those policies ensured that those lifted from poverty did not return to its bracket while also receiving special attention from his government. He specifically ensured that beneficiaries of his poverty elimination programmes maintained high-yielding investments as well as strategical planning to ensure overall prosperity,” Onu concluded.
