Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has promised that if elected, he will ensure that 100 million poor Nigerians have access to free medical services through an integrated health insurance scheme.
He stated that given the role of health in reinforcing education in the measure of productivity, his leadership will pay serious attention to the health system.
With respect to finance, he said the lack of government-backed sizeable venture capital funds is a significant adverse factor in the finance mix for SMEs and young entrepreneurs at the grassroots level and that if elected, he will create a professionally managed SME Equity Fund within the first year of office with the goal of promoting the development of at least one value-added industry that will utilise the local raw material supply in every local government in Nigeria
“Given the role of health in reinforcing education in the measure of productivity, my leadership will pay serious attention to the health system by ensuring that at least 100 million poor Nigerians have access to free medical services through an integrated health insurance scheme.
“It is imperative that, as this conference draws closer to the most critical period ahead of the 2023 elections, all young people of voting age obtain their PVCs and make sure they cast their ballots for qualified, competent, and trustworthy candidates at the local/state and national levels.
“Governments at all levels have a responsibility to provide an environment that allows people to achieve their life goals, including those related to infrastructure, health, education, and security of life and property. Good leaders bring about the good life; terrible leaders bring about destruction,” he said.
He said the new administration taking office in 2023 will face a plethora of domestic and external challenges provoked by cumulative leadership failures over the years and that the country is currently one of the most miserable in terms of poverty rate, number of out-of-school children, infant and under-5 mortality rate, life expectancy, and a host of others.
Obi however said that these problems, though difficult, are not unsolvable but that the institutional weaknesses and lack of political will to implement them are undermining development efforts.
He said with the right leadership with political will and commitment to addressing these problems, a new Nigeria, where everybody including the most vulnerable and excluded group like youths, women, and children will become the key stakeholders in the decision-making process, is possible.
“The overall task of our leadership in 2023 is to streamline governance and ensure that it is responsive, transformative, and effective. We will demonstrate that good governance is all about providing the needed services to the people. If elected the next president of Nigeria, youths would be the main proponents of my main agenda to transform Nigeria from a consuming nation to a producing nation.
“The two main components of this agenda are human capital development and finance. Incidentally, the central goal of today’s conference is to improve the quality of human capital. Thus, under my leadership, the Federal Government will prioritise the ability of our educational system to produce the necessary skilled labour force that coincides with the 21st-century labour market demand, alongside providing entrepreneurial education at all levels.
“In conclusion, I wish to appeal to all Nigerians, especially the youths, to see the 2023 election as an opportunity to take back their country and more importantly shun every form of primordial sentiments. The 2023 election should be based on competence, capacity and commitment to doing the right thing and not on ethnicity/tribe and religion since the high cost of living, insecurity and other problems that are facing us have no discrimination against ethnicity/tribe and religion,” he said.
Credit: Daily Sun