The President of Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo UK, Dr Nnanna Igwe, the Mayor of Elstree and Borehamwood, Mr Victor Eni and Madam Mayoress Martine Eni, the Chairman of Central Association of Nigerians in the United Kingdom (CANUK), Dr Boma Douglas, the Deputy Mayor of Enfield Council, Dr Kate Anolue, the Deputy Mayor of Brent Council, Mr Ernest Ezeajughi, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, please permit me to stand on the existing protocol.

Tonight, I am privileged to be given this opportunity to express, to enunciate why I want to serve my country in the highest capacity. I am coming out to vie for the number one seat in Nigeria under the auspices of a political party that held office for 16 years, a political party that wiped out our debt of $32billion in 2006. A political party that made Nigeria’s Economy the number one in Africa. And, that Political Party is called the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) of Nigeria.

It is right also for me to inform you that, I am standing on the shoulders of our heroes. Heroes like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa  Balewa and Chief Obafemi Awolowo. And if their DNA is Nigerian, that DNA is also in me, so I have no fears.

Tonight, I will be enunciating on Democracy, Good Governance, Accountability and in addition, the Duty of Care.

We’ve had Democracy since 1999, which is the 4th time, we are, as a nation, embarking on the system as a means of governance. When you have democracy and you sustain it for a very long time, say 19 years, it yields dividend and the people must benefit for that sustenance of democracy. As you and I can see, and as Nigerians living in the Diaspora, our people have not benefited. And if any, it’s a very little benefit. Today, you and I cannot vote. And, over 10 millions Nigerians who live abroad cannot vote, but I will address that when I become the President.

We are all enjoying uninterrupted electricity here in the UK, but you cannot have uninterrupted electricity in Nigeria. We cannot even feed ourselves, the health care and education are poor, there is a widespread of unreasonable and senseless killing of our people. You can see my motivation as to why I am coming out to built a nation, to address these issues so that our children and grandchildren can have a better country than we have now, that’s entirely my motivation.

If elected, I will start by doing justice to those that deserve it first. I will, working in tandem with the lawmakers to pay reparation to the people of the then Eastern Region of Nigeria for what they went through during the civil war. I will in the same token, working in tandem with Shell BP and other oil companies to ensure that there is no more oil spillage in the riverine areas and equally pay adequate compensation to those affected so far.

My administration will ensure that all the ‘Almajiris’, all the beggars on the streets of Kano and other parts of Nigeria are given a place, are put back in schools to harness the brains of our children that are languishing in the streets of Nigeria. And those of them who don’t want to go back to education, we will make sure we give them something to do by way of training. I will also rebuild, enhance the Ajeokuta Steel Industry to start producing steel again and compel all the companies that import cars into Nigeria to start manufacturing them in Nigeria.

Taking on from there, we all know what happens when you want to start a small scale industry. What comes to your mind first is, how do I sustain the industry because there is no electricity. So I will ban the importation of generators in Nigeria. I will only give licence to timber workers to enable them to cut timbers and allow six months for the importation of spare parts.

Now, go to Alaba International Market in Lagos or Barnax shopping Complex in Abuja and see how generator fumes are killing our people. For the fact that people can us generators, nobody again border to give uninterrupted electricity in Nigeria. The US Embassy, the British and Canadian High Commissions in Nigeria use generators but when they go back to their home countries they do not use generators. So, if we are unable to give our country uninterrupted electricity we shall contract it out, let them tell us how they did theirs because we need to develop as a nation. And, without electricity, we cannot grow our economy. God said in the Bible after creation, let there be light and there was light. I will prioritise electricity.

On the economy, of course, when you have steady electricity, your economy starts growing. I will do something no government has ever done. Today we have over 40 billion cubic barrels of oil deposited in Nigeria. I will work with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase our quota. But if OPEC does not allow Nigeria to sale more barrels of oil, I will advocate us selling in ‘black market’ to countries who are prepared to buy at least 10 or 15 billion barrels, even if it means selling the oil at a reduced price. That will give us enough money to channel towards green energy and also energise Nigeria with proper electricity with less worry on how we can get the money.

And in the next fifty years, you will find out that the number of barrels deposited now will not even worth $10 a barrel. So, the thinking is, sale what you can now and invest the money in modern technology, renewable energy and solar system. What we are doing now is penny wise pound foolish. We have to be smart. We have to radicalise our thinking for the future of our children.

I can tell you that there are over one million blue-prints on how to energise Nigeria lying there in Abuja but none of them includes what I am telling you now. It can be done, it’s practicable and Nigeria will improve.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT:

I will give power back to the people where the power lies. For instance, here we have Enfield Council, Haringey Council and Westminster Council. These are Local Government Councils. In Nigeria, we practice what we call Federalism. And every month ‘Federal’ gives handouts to the States. And, the States if any, give handouts to the Local Government to pay salaries. It shouldn’t be that way. The Local Government should be given autonomy to harness their own natural resources to develop their areas. If we continue with the Federalism, then Local Government Allocations (Money) should go directly to the LGAs to invest, spend and develop. I will also commission a body that will monitor Local Government Allocations and Development because if you don’t the LGAs’, you won’t have development in the country. I will concentrate on Local Government and by the time I finish, the whole of Nigeria will be developed.

NATIONAL PRIDE

National Pride is vital. Today we don’t have any pride as Nigerians. No National consciousness. People do what they like. When you see a big man stealing and driving big cars, you as a small man or poor man will do what you like also to elevate yourself, that’s standard. So if we start at a younger age to give that Nigerian consciousness to our children by reducing, for example, the entry level of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) to secondary school level as opposed to where it is now, which is, when you finish your university education you go and do youth service. The essence is to integrate and mix with each other. But before that, you are a matured man or woman. So I will reduce the entry level in order to achieve national consciousness among our children.

When you finish your secondary school you go and do six months youth service. For instance, you will be posted from Owerri to Kaduna, from Ilorin to Kaduna or Aba, Oshogbo, etc. This is so that our young ones can interact and build that consciousness as Nigerians which is lacking at the moment. That’s what my administration will do.

More so, I will touch on restructuring. We need to restructure Nigeria. The current system does not suit us well, it doesn’t give room for competition. I will look into Regionalism, ‘Zonalism’ and ‘Statism’. But my preference is ‘Statism’, whereby you give autonomy to States to develop with their potentials positively so that they can compete with each other, use their resources to develop. The current Federalism is not giving room for positive competition in Nigeria. I will work to change it to give autonomy to the states.

I will equally look at contracting out certain sections of the Government. If we cannot do it we contract it out. If we cannot build our roads we contract them out to companies even if they are foreign companies. If a certain leadership is giving us a headache because the person is Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa we give it to a foreigner. We can equally amend the constitution because we need the job to be done. The Inspector General of Police can be an Australian, it does not matter, we need the job to be done. Imagine if a Canadian is the Inspector General of police, will they be killing people in Plateau State and nobody would be saying anything? We must stop the killing.  Does it matter who does the job? The job must be done.

We are going to contract out certain sections of the government irrespective of where the person comes from because the job must be done. This time and age are not when jobs are given to incompetent people because of the zone or tribe they come from. That time has passed. When you open your computer in Zamfara or Aba, it doesn’t tell you where you are, it does the job. So, my people, we have to think radically as Nigerians.

HEALTH CARE

The shame of your President, my President, being ill and being cured abroad, wouldn’t happen in my own government. It is as good as contracting the health service out. When the Number One citizen is being cured abroad, what is left? He’s contracting the health service out. We have to look into that and whatever we can’t do, we contract out even if it’s the governorship of Imo State. We will amend the constitution to that effect. We will advertise the position, ask people to come and govern Imo state if they can do it, wherever they come from. If you can do it and there wouldn’t be the problem of Rochas Okorocha and his family, Orlu man, Owerri man and Okigwe man, no. You get somebody capable to come and do the job. That is what my government would do.

I wouldn’t like to bore you too much with this and that about governance. The duty of care is owed to all Nigerians. When once you are the President the buck lies on you to protect lives and properties. You see, today our people are being massacred, killed and nobody is saying anything. On the duty of care, he has failed. Mr President, Muhammadu Buhari has failed Nigerians because he has not protected our lives and properties. I will ensure that lives and properties are adequately protected.

If I were him, I will send Presidential delegates to talk to the leaders in those areas to help stop the killings. We are Nigerians, we are brothers and sisters. Why should we be killing our own people – children, women uncles etc? It’s not fair. My government will be different and those things wouldn’t happen.

I am pleading with Nigerians to give me the opportunity to serve. I will within six months, working in tandem with the legislators give robust and more opportunity to the Diaspora Commission so that people in Diaspora will have the opportunity to vote. There is no insurmountable problem as to why Nigerian in Diaspora cannot vote if they have their PVCs. What is the fear? Why can’t we vote? Over ten million of your people are disfranchised and you call it democracy? It’s not a democracy.

As Churchill rightly said, democracy is the worst way of serving the people except for those other ways we haven’t tried. He’s right and I can see why. Sometimes you talk about the military, but that’s not a democracy. But they’ve done some things right. Today we don’t have Nigeria Airways, but the military flew Nigeria Airways. We had Nigeria Airways during the military era. Nobody is advocating for them to come back but people must be given the opportunity to vote so that Nigeria can have true democracy. We don’t have it at the moment.

I think I have touched on most of the things, I will expect questions of course and I will say more when I am being asked questions. Nigeria is our nation, we cannot run away from it. Let’s have Nigeria consciousness in us and work together and ensure we build a better nation for our children and grandchildren.

Thank you very much and God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.