Prof. Jerry Gana, a presidential aspirant under the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has promised to invest heavily in security to stem current spate of insecurity in the country if elected.
Gana, a former Minister of Information, said this at news briefing on Sunday after meeting leaders of South-East delegates of the SDP in Enugu.
He said that his government would ensure that various layers of policing would be put in place at the state and even at the local levels.
Gana promised to decentralise policing like what is currently found in developed countries.
“First and foremost, we have to restore confidence of the people in living together; there must be freedom for anyone to be anywhere, live anywhere in the country before we invest heavily on security infrastructure.
“Thirdly, we will bring about economic development and diversification which will create enormous jobs so that we will reduce idleness, crimes and all sorts of evils that lead to insecurity in the land,’’ he said.
Gana said that if elected, his party would also invest in education, social security, health, skills as “development begins with the people.”
“We will implement Fiscal Expansion Act for wealth to be expanded in the country and our people will be rich and have reasons to stay back in their own country.
“We must have first class infrastructure such as solid highways, railways, pipelines. Nigeria economy is suffering from infrastructure deficiency.
“Then in power, every zone and state should have adequate energy to generate jobs and wealth. The country is seriously blessed with natural resources that are needed for power generation.
“We have abundant sun, water, wind and even nuclear power raw material. On the power situation, we have to invest and get foreign investors on power generation, transmission and distribution as well,’’ he said.
Gana, who was also a former Minister of Corporation and Integration in Africa, said there was the need to transform agricultural production system to feed the over 180 million people in the country.
“We also use agriculture to create jobs, security and wealth among our people. Ensure that locals benefit and harness the natural resources endowment in their localities and states in order to expand jobs and wealth,’’ he said.
The presidential aspirant also promised that he would bring new knowledge and understanding to governance based on reality and experience.
“The framework of the federation has to be re-structured in order to unlock human abilities of our people to explore and create wealth for themselves.
“We shall restructure and reconcile Nigerians to see themselves as one and be their brothers’ keepers,’’ he said.
He called on the Federal Government to truly make the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) independent and self-controlled.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that SDP had fixed its Delegates National Convention in Abuja on Oct. 6. (NAN)