Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and 2019 presidential hopeful, has declared his intention to seek election under the Young Progressive Party, YPP.
Moghalu, addressing a press conference in Abuja Thursday, where he formally declared to join YPP, said the political party among several others registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was the only one that could give Nigerians hope.
He promised to establish innovative based economy, restructure the country for regional prosperity and effective budget system if elected as president .
He said he chose the YPP because, according to him, the party answered all his questions in affirmative.
He explained that he could not join the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC or the opposition Peoples Democratic amid,PDP, because they were parties that sweep away truth and replace them with lies and umbrella that block the light of hope.
Describing the YPP as a “great dare, a tantalizing promise and a notice of evacuation to Nigeria’s recycled political party,” Moghalu called on Nigerians within and outside the shore of their country to quickly join him in the YPP so they could rescue the country from collapse.
He said:”I am here today to announce that in response to the parties of the past, in response to umbrellas that block out the light of hope, and brooms that sweep away truth and replace them with lies, in response to the parties of tired old tricks and tired old systems and tired old men, I and millions across Nigeria will choose the Young Progressive Party, YPP.
“We need those who want to shake up the House of Representatives, to shake up the Houses of Assembly and shake up our local government councils across Nigeria to join us now, and work with us to execute our plans.”
Mogahlu said he has chosen YPP as a platform to realise his ambition because he wanted to inspire Nigerians to look to the future and not to the past.
The ex-CBN Deputy Governor said when elected, he would improve Nigeria’s human capital investments, promote renewable energy and turn a blind eye to the crude oil that has greased the economy for decades.
Hear him:“My economic vision is one that is not based on oil or natural resources, but on innovation and human capital,” Moghalu said in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay.
“My government will take on unemployment through the creation of a N500 billion venture capital fund to boost SMEs access to finance and create jobs.
“A competent government does not create jobs; rather it creates an enabling environment for jobs to be created. We will subsidise production but we will never subsidise consumption. That will stimulate the economy while creating jobs at the same time.”
He said time had come for technocrats, intellectuals and experienced people to take power from career politicians.
“The future of Nigeria rests in technocratic interventions. We need thinking people that will take Nigeria from the politics of stomach infrastructure to politics of mental infrastructure, “he added.
The former banker vowed to reposition Nigeria for economic prosperity “by creating an enabling environment for a productive, innovation-led economy, with a better approach to taxation that will reduce dependence oil revenues.”
“My government will establish a productive innovation-led economy that reduces dependence on oil revenues, establish a public-private venture capital fund with a minimum capital of N500 billion (with private sector co-investment to fund could attain a size of N1 trillion) to create jobs by investing in new businesses by unemployed youth, reform the Nigerian Police Force by recruiting, training and equipping a minimum of 1.5 million persons with improved remuneration to create safe and secure communities, empower women with a 50:50 gender parity policy in political appointments, and initiate a constitutional restructuring of Nigeria to restore true federalism for stability and prosperity,” he added.
He spoke further:” I thought about why I have joined politics- the imperative of a radically new political leadership for Nigeria, one with a vision and the capacity to build a new and different future for our country. That meant almost automatically that I would not be part of the old order of failed and recycled politicians that have run pur country with poverty, insecurity and corruption as our Natio legacy “.
” Would the party I would join share my vision of leadership as one of service and accountability? Would it be focused on the youth and our future while inclusive in its membership?. Would it be nation- wide in its spread and appeal as opposed to an ethnic and sectional focus? And would the party, from the standpoint of electoral strategy, be a viable platform with a structure to prosecute the struggle for a new Nigeria that is focused on the future and not the past?”
Speaking more on why he could not chose either PDP or APC, he explained that other parties, especially PDP and APC, were combination of old and same politicians whom, he said created the mess confronting Nigeria as a nation.
He urged Nigerians to be discerning in their choice of who becomes the next president, saying people that created the problems do not have solutions to them.
He urged Nigerians to vote him as the next president, because he posses all it takes to lead Nigeria to prosperity.
When asked of his thoughts on restructuring, including how Nigeria could overcome ineffective budget process, the former Deputy Governor of CBN affirmed that, the country needs restructuring if it must prosper.
Recall that Moghalu had in February, this year, declared his interest to vie for presidency but preferred not to disclose the political platform he would realize his ambition.
Vanguard.
