2027: Study our manifesto, judge us by promises kept – Presidency tells Nigerians

…As APC-PCC unveils 4-point manifesto, 8 priority areas

By Soni Daniel (Editor, North), Emma Ujah (Bureau Chief, Abuja) & Omeiza Ajayi, ABUJA

The Presidency has urged Nigerians to study the past and current manifestoes of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC and judge the party by the promises it has kept since 2023, when it assumed power.

The Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, gave the charge on Tuesday in Abuja at the unveiling of the APC manifesto, titled ‘From Reforms to Prosperity’. He described the manifesto as a binding pact with the electorate.

“A manifesto, in its strictest sense, is simply a contract between the people and their leaders. It is an inviolable contract, and we take the strict interpretation of what a manifesto represents as gospel under this administration,” he said.

He admitted that the reforms had put real pressure on households, adding that the people living through it deserve to be heard. “Nobody should have to pretend that life is easy at the moment,” he said.

The former House Speaker nonetheless defended President Bola Tinubu’s decision to act, saying Tinubu confronted the subsidy burden and a distorted foreign exchange system when he took responsibility for the country in 2023. “Leaving those problems untouched would have continued to weaken our ability to invest in the future. The difference between a politician and a leader is that while a politician thinks about the next election, a leader thinks about the next generation. And that is exactly what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has demonstrated,” Gbajabiamila said.

4 pillars

The manifesto rests on four pillars: a secure and resilient nation; a better quality and more affordable life for every Nigerian; energy, infrastructure and economic growth; and effective and accountable governance. They are tied to the eight priority areas of the Renewed Hope Agenda, which the document says will be carried out on four foundations: macroeconomic stability, the rule of law, institutional capability and national cohesion.

By 2031, the document commits to power generation scaled towards 10,000 megawatts, annual economic growth of 6 per cent, and youth unemployment and out-of-school children both halved. It also promises 20,000 additional teachers and health insurance expanded from more than 23 million enrollees to 40 per cent of Nigerians. Primary health centres would function in at least 90 per cent of facilities, up from the current 53 per cent.

It further promises to work towards 200,000 homes under the Tinubu Mass Social Housing Scheme, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) mortgages and licensed private developers, tracked on a public dashboard. Gbajabiamila added that it commits the government to installing seven million additional electricity meters.

He said the document would also expose the government’s own record to public inspection. “The manifesto commits us to publishing targets, identifying those responsible and reporting progress to the public. Citizens should be able to see where delivery is succeeding and where it is falling short,” he said.

Gbajabiamila said the party would ask for the electorate’s mandate in 2027 and would earn it. “A party asking to continue in government must be prepared to answer to the people whose mandate it seeks.

“The child studying tonight should have a fair chance of becoming the professional she hopes to be. The man opening his workshop tomorrow should be able to grow beyond the struggle to keep it open. Their ambitions deserve a country organised to help them succeed,” he stated.

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, who chaired the APC 2027 Manifesto Unveiling Committee, said the administration had made progress but that more remained to be done. He cited the last Nigerian Economic Summit, where he said the private sector acknowledged that the President had delivered on his promises.

“But, as we all know, even before anybody tells him, Mr President acknowledges that we have done well. However, until we deliver and ensure that every Nigerian feels the impact of prosperity, especially hard-working Nigerians and those who need support, we still have work to do,” Bagudu said.

He recalled how Tinubu, during his campaign in Zamfara State, directed a State House official to give money to a struggling carrot seller. He cited it as evidence of the president’s concern for ordinary Nigerians.

“So, Mr President, without being influenced by any outsider, we said we should confront our reality and address these challenges. As I have said, he was not concerned about the next election but about prosperity,” Bagudu said.

The spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) and Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, said the President removed the fuel subsidy and unified the foreign exchange market at a political cost to himself. “Regardless of the political consequences, or even the president’s own political situation and aspirations, he carried out genuine structural reforms,” he said.

Alake alleged that powerful interests had exploited the subsidy regime and were resisting its removal. “It takes a man of courage, a man of grit, brains and brawn, to withstand the pressure of the cabal, which would fight back, and they are fighting back over the removal of fuel subsidy,” he said.

On the exchange rate, he alleged that some people with connections to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or top government officials obtained millions of dollars at the official rate. “In the twinkle of an eye, they would become billionaires while sitting in their backyards, making no contribution to production in the economy to shore up the naira. And, of course, the result, as you all knew, was a free fall,” he said.

The Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, answered critics who say only a few Nigerians benefit from the reforms. “When the road between Abuja and Kano is being constructed, I am not aware that anybody needs to show his ID card to prove that he belongs to the APC, is a rich man or belongs to a particular class before he can use it,” he said.

On security, he said travellers on the Abuja-Kaduna road no longer have to ask whether bandits are still operating there. “Today, nobody asks such questions. You take your car from here to Kano without asking whether terrorists, bandits, kidnappers or whoever was operating along the road is still there. This was not the situation before,” he said.

He pointed to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). “So, if you are looking for an example of Nigerians benefiting from these reforms, the 1.6 million young men and women and their parents are there. Nobody asks questions about their political affiliation,” he said.

Idris added that the Financial Action Task Force had delisted Nigeria from its grey list and that headline and food inflation were both declining. “That is why we are saying today that, yes, we have laid the foundation for reforms, and we are progressively moving towards a period of prosperity. As I said, by 2031, it will be almost impossible for anybody to reverse this course,” he said.

He also appealed to the media. “You do not have to like the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. You do not have to like him, but all of us must like Nigeria,” he said.

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