Chidi Samuel|
President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday kicked off his re-election campaign with a promise to overhaul the education sector if he emerges victorious in the 2019 presidential election.
The president who made the pledge at an event tagged ‘The Next Level’, to mark the launch of his campaign said that as part of efforts to revamp the education sector, his administration will remodel 10,000 schools every year.
The President said, “Perhaps our biggest ambition yet, is the overhaul of our education sector. Every child counts and whatever it takes to prepare our teachers’ curriculum and classrooms to attain the right educational goals to grow our country, will be done.
“We will remodel 10,000 schools every year and retrain our teachers to impart Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics using coding, animation in the curriculum”.
Buhari also said he is committed to ridding the country of corruption and promised to intensify the anti-graft war, to bring an end to the menace.
“We know that to succeed, moral integrity and conscience must continue to form the dominant character of our nation and its leadership.
“Corruption is an existential threat to Nigeria, despite the gains we have made in closing the gates, we know that there is still much ground to cover to stop systematic corruption. We are committed to deepening the work we started this past term, such that the nation’s assets and resources continue to be organized and utilized to do good,” he said.
While highlighting his administration’s overall achievements in the past three and a half years, in the face of difficult challenges, the President stated that the foundation for a better tomorrow has been laid.
He said, “Four years ago, we promised Nigerians real change in what we do and how we do it. Nigerians sent a clear message in the last election and our platform offered a new ambitious plan for a secure, prosperous and corruption-free country.
“We have worked hard to fulfil our promises and while the road may have been difficult over the last three and a half years, we have laid a foundation for a strong, stable and prosperous country for the majority of our people.
“Foundational work is not often visible, neither is it glamorous but it is vital to achieving the kind of country we desire.
“Judging by the depths of decay, deterioration, and despair that Nigeria has sank into, we are certain that these past few years have put us in good stead to press on the next level of building an even stronger nation for our people.”
The President also highlighted achievements made in the areas of security and economic development.
He said, “We liberated 17 local government areas from the grip of insurgency, brokering and sustaining peace in the Niger Delta, has also been crucial to stabilizing the polity, despite the difficult circumstances presented by weak oil prices and reduced oil production, we delivered on our promises to make public investments to spur economic growth, job creation, and prosperity.
“Agriculture continues to expand our economic base, as do our investments in deficient infrastructure across the length and breadth of this nation.
“We implemented a responsible and transparent fiscal plan for the challenging economic times that saw us doing more even with lesser oil revenues”.
He, therefore, pledged that if re-elected, his administration will intensify the efforts it has started in its key campaign areas.
“The next four years will be quite significant for our country. Nigeria is faced with a choice to keep on building a new Nigeria or to go back to its stunted past which favoured only an opportunistic few.
“Our choices will surely shape us, define clearly our economic security and our future prosperity.
“Nigeria, more than ever before, needs a stable and people-focused government to move the development of our country forward. Join us on this journey to a prosperous, strong and stable Nigeria.
“The achievements and projections I have enumerated above are just a summary of what we have done and what we intend to do in our next term if Nigerians graciously give us a second term mandate,” he said.