Last Thursday, the All
Progressives Congress (APC) blazed the trail by coming up with a written document that clearly lists its promises to the electorate.  The party, at its inaugural national summit  held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, unveiled its code of ethics and agenda for the country ahead of the 2015 general elections.
A summary of the APC’s manifesto presented during the summit showed that the party places premium on job creation, fight against corruption, free and quality education, agriculture development, housing development and healthcare plan for children and adults.  Other areas that were captured in the manifesto include social welfare for the less privileged, roads, power and infrastructure, better management of natural resources, security, freedom of religion and foreign affairs.
APC’s manifesto, according to the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Muhammed was based on the opinion polls conducted for the party by a foreign consultant, KA Research Limited (KARL), a privately owned international research company based in Brussels, Belgium and Islanbul, Turkey.
The APC spokesperson said the public opinion polls which were conducted both in rural and urban areas, showed that unemployment remains the most challenging issue facing Nigerians with 60 per cent of respondents castigating the PDP government for unemployment.  This, according to him, was closely followed by corruption recording 59 per cent of Nigerians blaming the country’s woes on weak anti-graft policy.
APC, therefore, promised to tackle unemployment head on by creating at least 20,000 jobs per state for those with minimum qualification of secondary school leaving certificate and who have technology and national training immediately on assumption of power at the centre.
The party also resolved to show zero tolerance for corruption at all levels by pursuing a legislation that will expand forfeiture and seizure of assets laws and procedures with respect to inexplicable wealthy, irrespective of whether there is a conviction or not.
APC’s blueprint is a departure from the past when political parties waited till the campaign period, more often at campaign rallies before ditching out a salad of promises to the electorate.
The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji  Fashola who set the ball rolling on APC’s manifesto at the summit, described the party’s roadmap as something new in Nigerian politics.  He explained that the uniqueness of the event was that the party was making its intention known to the Nigerian people at a forum other than a campaign rally as had been the practice in the last 15 years.
“No party in more than 15 years has done what we will do today.  Publicly, and most importantly, together as a party, we tell Nigerians what we believe in a meeting, not just in a rally, not in the middle of a political campaign”, he said.
Fashola explained that what stand APC out from other parties is that the party has got a roadmap for developing Nigeria, and code of ethics to regulate and guide the activities of its members whether in government or out of it.
The APC may have borrowed a leaf from the first and second republics when political parties were well known for their core principles and political ideologies.  For instance, the Unity Party of Nigeria led by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was well known for its five cardinal programmes including free education and free health, while the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) anchored its own programmes on affordable housing and development of agriculture, among others.
For 15 years since Nigeria returned to civilian rule, the country was bereft of political party ideologies.  All the parties merely played to the gallery without clearly defined manifesto. Worse still, apart from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that wears a national outlook, other parties merely existed on the fringe and tended towards protecting and serving ethnic interest.
However, with the unveiling of APC’s blueprint last Thursday, the party appears to have carved a unique ideological niche for itself.  The uniqueness of the APC’s roadmap lies not only in its contents but also in the procedure and methods adopted to arrive at conclusions on each of the issues affecting the lives of Nigerians.  The idea of using  opinion polls to gauge the feelings of Nigerians on what they consider as most needful and challenging has added a new vista to Nigerian politics.
Speaking further on the manifesto launch, Fashola said “the work we begin today is the work that will build a new Nigeria. We in the APC seek  to create a new future for Nigeria; a future when there are jobs for everyone who wants to work; a future without leaders who deprive the very families they are supposed to protest; a future of peace and stability; a future when Nigeria can feed its families; a future when a Nigerian education is as good as any education in the world; a future when the high prices of food and fuel do not undermine every family’s quality of life”.
The Lagos State governor believes Nigeria’s population of over 160 million and 290 ethnic groups who speak 521 languages ought not to be a disadvantage but a source of strength which should create jobs and opportunities for all.
He berated the ruling PDP for paying lip service to anti-graft war, saying if government were committed to the anti-graft war, there would have been enough money to create jobs for the nation’s growing youth population.
“And let there be no doubt about the link between corruption and jobs.  If we had a government that is serious about fighting corruption, there would be financial resources to create jobs.  Instead of stopping this corruption, this government (federal government) pardons those convicted of corruption and removes those who point out corruption”, he said.
Several other speakers including leaders of the legacy parties that coalesced into APC, namely General Muhammed Buhari of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Ogbonaya Onu  of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), the APC’s  Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and former National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh took turns to tell the audience what led to the merger of opposition  parties.
Gen Buhari said decided to come together to put an end to impurity in government and to ensure the country’s enormous resources are well managed.
In his own remarks, Tinubu who is a former government of Lagos State, said he was encouraged by the fact that everywhere he went even during the course of his exile, he could only rely on his Nigerian passport.  This, according to him, made it imperative for him and likeminded progressives to build a truly national political party.
The former governor who said “the youths are the owners of APC agenda because it is their interest that the party is fighting to protect through creation of employment, sound economic development, and prudent management of resources”, gave indication of the APC’s readiness to build four refineries within four years in office to check the current overdependence on the importation of petroleum products and “to put a stop to the circle of product scarcity and subsidy scams in the country”.
Other members who spoke at the well-attended summit include former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former Borno State Governor, Ali Mohdu Sherrif, APC State governors and the outspoken former Vice-President of the World Bank and two time minister in Nigeria, Dr (Mrs) Obiageli Ezekwesili who delivered the keynote address.
The APC’s roadmap did not only provide an avenue for the party to showcase what Nigerians should expect if it forms government in 2015, it is also an ingenious innovation that rattled the ruling PDP whose rank has depleted in the last four months due to a gale of defection from its pack to the APC.
In a quick response to APC’s blueprint, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisah Metuh last Thursday, described the roadmap as “empty and typical of all anti-democratic coalitions”, adding that it “lacks character, depth and completely addressed no issue”.
He also faulted the APC’s code of ethics, saying the PDP was the first political party to launch its code of conduct as far back as 2006 when Senator Ahmadu Ali and Ambassador Ojo Maduekwe were National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively.
Notwithstanding the PDP’s political mudslinging, the APC’s roadmap is a novel idea that could help fix all the failings of successive governments in the country.  But whether or not the APC is ready to accept the challenges inherent in seeking to tackle all the myriads of ills plaguing the nation, as Dr Ezekwesili canvassed in her thought-provoking address is a question only time will tell.

Cross section of lawmakers at sitting Government House, Port Harcourt last Thursday. Photo: Chris Monyanaga

Boye Salau