The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Abubakar Atiku on Wednesday said he would address growing unemployment in the country if elected in the Feb. 16 poll.
He made this known at a town hall meeting tagged ‘The Candidates’ organised by the MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with NTA and DARIA Media in Abuja.
Atiku, a former Vice President said Nigeria needed a pro business and private sector driven leadership to create jobs for its 21 million unemployed youths.
According to him, one of our major plans is to create jobs in the agriculture sector which has the largest capacity for job creation in the country.
Atiku said as an individual, he lifted 45,000 families out of poverty in Adamawa state by establishing a Micro Finance Bank with technical support from Bangladesh.
On corruption allegations against him, Atiku said he is the most investigated public officer in the country who had never been found wanting.
His running mate, Mr Peter Obi said Atiku and the Adamawa State Government remain the highest employers of labour in the state.
Obi said Atiku had proven himself as an employer of labour and was determined to bring in his experience into play at the national level to address unemployment.
According to Obi, Atiku has a plan and when he is elected, implementation will begin without wasting time.
Obi said that not moving the country towards a private sector driven economy, would amount to wasting peoples lives.(NAN)