Atiku plans boosting youth and women jobs if elected President
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Atiku Abubakar has pledged to ring-fence $10 billion to create jobs and back up small and medium-scale enterprises (SMSEs) for youths and women if given the chance to rule Nigeria in his sixth attempt.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) told a campaign crowd in Ilorin on Thursday that youth unemployment is not peculiar to Kwara or the North Central zone.
He promised to address unemployment by supporting SMSEs that will ensure youths are gainfully employed to have a decent living standard.
“I want to assure you that the youth unemployment, which is all over the country, is not peculiar to Kwara State or the North Central zone.
“Most of you here are under the age of 30 and most of you here have no jobs or businesses .…,” he said.
“I’ve promised that I’ll set aside $10 billion to make sure that youth unemployment is catered for in micro, small and medium enterprises to empower you and to make sure that you are gainfully employed so that you have a decent living.”
Atiku lamented insecurity and infrastructure decay in the country, saying even though Kwara connects the North and South, bad roads hinder growth in the state.
His vice presidential candidate and Delta Governor Ifeanyi Okowa said he was happy with what he saw in Kwara.
“The PDP is ready to create employment and won’t allow our children stay eight months without going to school.
“The PDP will win in all six geo-political zones of the country. We will work with the people and rebuild Nigeria,” he pledged, according to reporting by The PUNCH.
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Ayu touts PDP as a ‘big, united family’
Despite the public rift in the PDP, its National Chairman Iyiorcha Ayu insisted “the PDP is one big, united family, we are on our way back to victory. The PDP has come back to rescue Nigeria and put it back on development track to rescue all families.
“Don’t allow anyone to deceive (you), we are hungrier than we were in 2015. Bring out your voter cards, come out en mass and vote all the PDP candidates, especially Atiku, in the general election.”
Ayu later presented the PDP flag to the party’s Kwara governorship candidate, Shuaibu Yema.
Bukola Saraki, former Kwara Governor and former Senate President, urged PDP supporters to vote massively for all candidates of the party in 2023, stressing Nigerians can trust him and the PDP leadership.
Said he: “I stood and fought for democracy. The APC came and lied to you and now you know the difference. It is time for Nigerians, starting from Kwara, to kick out the APC.
“When the PDP was in power, exchange rate was N200 (to one dollar) and now it is N800. We are all tired.
“Atiku loves Kwara since the days of my father [Olusola, Second Republic Senate Leader who died in 2012]. Other candidates don’t love you, they merely want to exploit you.”
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