Our Pact with Nigerians: Creating a New Nigeria

Adopt zero-based national budgeting

“We commit to a zero-based national budget to overcome the mindset and realities of past non-performing national budgets that are routinely hampered by budgetary deficit overhang.”

Reduce the debt-servicing ratio sharply

“We will foster economic policies that are assertive and robust with a view to reducing drastically our debt-servicing ratio.”

Reform ports, customs and logistics to cut trade costs

“A radical reform of our logistics and distribution systems including ports, customs, and trade facilitation instruments to raise the competitiveness of our products and ease of doing business,”

Run a monitored scheme of targeted funding for entrepreneurs

“A monitored scheme of targeted funding to entrepreneurs taking advantage of the capacity development as outlined above.”

Extend Nigerian content rules to promote made-in-Nigeria goods

“We will drive the expansion of Nigerian content initiative with emphasis on the promotion of made-in-Nigeria goods and services as a pillar of our administration.”

Support small businesses with incentives, capital access and new laws

“We will prioritize the development of MSMEs through a boutique of incentives which include new structures, new capital access, new legislation to support small business growth”

Create industry-targeted trade and investment missions to expand exports

“This will include creating structures such as nationally organised strategic trade and investment missions which are industry targeted;”

Lead missions to attract global manufacturers to produce in Nigeria

“We shall embrace political entrepreneurialism to directly lead missions to top Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and leading Global Value Chain headquarters,”

Improve access to finance for small businesses, youths and women

“Improve access to finance, particularly to MSMEs, youths and women, to significantly reduce unemployment and insecurity.”

Introduce a national minimum hourly wage for all employers

“Resolve the national minimum wage problem by doing away with the extant salary structure and introducing a minimum national hourly rate, by which public and private sector employers must pay employees for hours worked”

Criminalise non-payment of salaries, wages and pensions

“This shall include the criminalisation of non-payment of salaries, wages, pensions, entitlements, benefits, and violation of collective bargaining agreements.”

Submit a bill for a consolidated Occupational Health and Safety Act

“Submit an Executive Bill to the National Assembly for a consolidated Occupational Health and Safety Act to revamp and improve on the 2012 Labour, Safety, Health, and Welfare (LSHW) Bill”

Create mandatory national certification for artisans

“create mandatory national certification for blue-collar artisans;”

Create a Green Army to tap climate finance for youth jobs

“We shall establish a Green Army tasked with identifying all opportunities to tap into the 3 trillion dollars international climate finance to engineer economic growth and employment for millions of our youths”

Reduce youth unemployment and the number of young people not in work

“We will deploy available national resources combined with extant policies and programmes to tackle and reduce the high rate of youth unemployment;”

Support training and certification institutions for creative-industry youth

“We will support the establishment of institutions to provide training and certification for our youths in the creative industries.”

Back private boutique refineries and end the petrol subsidy

“We will incentivize the mid-stream segment of the petroleum sector by facilitating gas processing plants and privately-owned small and medium scale boutique refineries, with a view to reducing importation of refined petroleum products, and eliminating petrol subsidy regime,”

Enforce the mandatory National Strategic Reserve of petrol, aviation fuel and gas

“We will review and enforce the mandatory National Strategic Reserve of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), aviation fuel, and cooking gas”

Give incentives to companies moving to clean energy

“We will ensure that the Federal Government offers meaningful incentives to corporate entities and industries that make discernible efforts to transit to clean and alternative energy, not only for consumption but also for exports.”

Generate and distribute at least 20,000 megawatts within four years

“We will upgrade and vigorously further reform the country's power generation, transmission, and distribution network with the aim of achieving in the next four years, the generation and distribution of not less than 20,000 megawatts.”

Liberalise electricity transmission

“We will liberalize the transmission component of the electricity value chain to complement the already privatized generation and distribution sub-sectors”

Raise the 1-megawatt licensing threshold for power projects

“The current barrier of 1 Megawatt and below for licensing shall be revised upwards to incentivize more investment in the power value chain.”

Use gas reserves to provide 24-hour electricity nationwide

“We will deploy Nigeria's enormous natural gas reserves to incentivize our gas-based industries to drive industrial revolution and provide 24-Hour electricity for the entire nation.”

Increase the share of renewable and clean energy

“We will promote a healthy energy mix that increases the share of renewable and clean energy in line with global trends (hydro, wind, thermal, solar etc.)”

Raise education's share of the national budget to at least 16%

“We will undertake an upward review of national budgetary allocation to education to at least 16%, aligning it with global best practices threshold of 15 to 20%, and well beyond the present 5.6 to 8.6% allocation.”

Run a Marshall Plan-type programme adding vocational and digital skills to schools

“We will pursue a Marshal plan-type programme on education that incorporates compulsory technical and vocational skills, sports, entrepreneurship, programming, and digital skills from primary to the secondary level.”

Fund and remodel five federal universities of technology on MIT lines

“All our Federal Universities of Technology in Akure, Owerri, Bauchi, Minna and Yola will be properly funded, strengthened, and remodelled like top technology institutes in the world such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)”

Establish an Education Bank to grant student loans

“We shall establish an Education Bank with the sole purpose of granting students' educational loans.”

Introduce a mandatory No Child Left Behind education policy

“We will introduce a mandatory "No Child left Behind" educational policy,”

Retrain, retool and recertify teachers

“Retraining, retooling and recertification of teachers”

Amend UBEC and TETFund funding laws to remove bottlenecks

“We will address the gaps in the legislation guiding the funding access modalities to Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), to remove prevailing bottlenecks,”

Bar public officials from sending their children to foreign schools

“We will, asa matter of urgency, transmit a bill to the National Assembly for an act to prohibit public officials including civil servants from sending their children to foreign schools while occupying or serving in public office.”

Provide health insurance to the 100 million poorest Nigerians

“We will provide health insurance cover to 100 million poorest Nigerians including pregnant women, the aged and the disabled.”

Work towards the Abuja Declaration target of 15% of budget for health

“We will strive to honour Nigeria's commitment pursuant to the 2001 African Union Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other related Infectious Diseases, which set the target of allocating at least 15 percent of annual budgets to the improvement of the health sector”

Strengthen the NHIS to cover informal workers and the vulnerable

“The NHIS shall be strengthened in an efficient manner to stimulate private sector-driven health provision driven by accessibility and affordability to cover informal sector workers”

Bar public officers from using public funds for treatment abroad

“This will be consolidated with a bill to the National Assembly to prohibit public officers from using public resources to access healthcare in foreign countries.”

End medical tourism by helping teaching hospitals specialise

“We will put to an end the financial resources-depleting practice of medical tourism, by supporting national teaching hospitals to specialize in niche sectors of medicine,”

Offer incentives and guarantees for private healthcare facilities

“We will encourage private sector health service providers by providing incentives and limited guarantees to establish healthcare facilities.”

Introduce three-level policing at local, state and federal levels

“We will from day one, engage, support and partner with component parts of the federation and national institutions to take ownership of the national security architecture with the three-level policing at local, state, and federal levels, that we shall implement.”

Activate border-security cooperation with Niger, Chad and Cameroon

“a. activate all the necessary regional cooperative arrangement on securing our borders with neighboring countries in West and Central Africa including Niger, Chad, Cameroun;”

Increase armed forces personnel, equipment, training and funding

“b. embark on boosting the personnel of our armed forces and optimally equipping, training, and funding them to respond adequately to the security threats;”

Set up a panel on #EndSARS killings and security-force abuses

“We will establish a panel to look into the killings and human rights abuses during the #ENDSARS protests and all other grievous cases of human rights abuse by security forces.”

Refocus the military on external threats and police on internal security

“reforming the security sector, with particular emphasis on re-focusing the military on external threats and border protection, and the police on internal security threats and law enforcement;”

Strengthen police civilian oversight and increase police size and funding

“Improve the functioning and effectiveness of our security agencies particularly the police, by strengthening their civilian oversight as well as increasing their size, strength, equipment, funding, and enhanced professional training.”

Release protesters still unjustly detained after the #EndSARS protests

“We will ensure that all protesters unjustly detained during the protests and still being held in prisons, will be released.”

Disband police units reported for widespread rights abuses

“All units of the Nigeria Police that have been reported by the citizens for widespread rights abuses will be disbanded, while officers found to have committed grievous offences will be madetofacejustice.”

Expand rail and connect every major city by multi-modal transport

“we shall aggressively invest resources in attaining a sustainable electricity, modernizing and expanding our rail transportation network, ensuring that every major city is connected in an inter-modal transportation system.”

Build national multi-utility tunnels to co-locate underground infrastructure

“and electricity to create a national multi-utility transport tunnels (MUT) for co- location of subsurface infrastructure development”

Harmonise infrastructure agencies to fix coordination failures

“We will seek to harmonize agencies involved in the infrastructure space to add ress coordination failures that impede effectiveness and efficiency.”

Scale infrastructure financing through tax credits and community bonds

“Our government shall go beyond blended finance to create mechanisms to scale infrastructure financing, incentivizing not only corporate tax credit application to infrastructure, but also, philanthropy, and community-based infrastructure bonds.”

Create a Highway Trust Fund for roads, rail and mass transit

“We will diversify the funding for our national surface transportation system (roads, rail, bridges, and mass transit) and programmes with the creation of the Highway Trust Fund Account.”

Unlock private capital for affordable social housing

“We will create financing incentives to unlock private capital provision of affordable social housing for Nigerian workers and people in proximity to their businesses and workplaces.”

Make Nigeria food self-sufficient and a net food exporter

“We shall address the identified impediments (banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, desertification, policies) to enhance food self-sufficiency and become a net food exporting nation with emphasis on the vast arable lands of our Northern Region.”

Invest across agricultural value chains in all states and the FCT

“optimize all the comparative advantages of our 36 states and the FCT, across all the agricultural value chains through adequate and targeted investments, policies, and programmes.”

Mechanise farming on arable land, particularly in the North

“We shall aggressively prioritize the mechanization of the huge endowment of arable land across our nation, particularly in our Northern region,”

Invest in agro-clusters and industrial clusters across the zones

“Incentivising and investing in agro-cluster and industrial cluster development across our geo-resource zones to take advantage of agglomeration and scale effects.”

Reclaim land in the northern Sahel to halt desert encroachment

“We will aggressively pursue land reclamation efforts in the Sahel regions of northern Nigeria to stem the tide of desert encroachment.”

Digitise the judiciary, government and regulatory agencies

“Pursue aggressive digitization of all judiciary, government and regulatory agencies to curb corruption and improve governance outcomes and service”

Build young people's digital skills for offshore gig-economy jobs

“We will prioritize a structured approach to developing the digital skills of our young population to give them the competitive advantage to receive offshore jobs in the new gig economy,”

Expand broadband through state-led and public-private initiatives

“Our government will pursue a combination of state-led and public-private initiatives to drive the penetration of broadband infrastructure and information superhighway necessary to empower smart industrialization.”

Strengthen incentives for creative and technology industries

“We will strengthen the incentive regimes for new growth industries, in particular culture and creative industry, and technology-oriented industries.”

Back a fibre-optic backbone linking universities and state capitals

“We will vigorously support the private sector to construct fibreoptic backbone connecting all tertiary institutions and state capitals, to enable free broadband access”

Harmonise federal public pay under a CREST salary table

“Direct executive action and push for legislative mandate aimed at formulating a policy on Common Regimentation Emolument Structure Table (CREST) that will harmonize the wages of the federal public servants,”

Review the 68 exclusive-list items to devolve some to states

“We shall strengthen our federalism by critically reviewing the 68 items on the exclusive list of the Federal government with a focus to move some items to the concurrent list.”

Add Supreme Court judges and sit the court in all six zones

“Increase the number of supreme court judges and establish a supreme court in each of the six geo- political zones to enhance the speedy adjudication of cases.”

Review regulatory agencies and move to objectives-based regulation

“Review all the regulatory agencies of Nigeria with a plan to gradually move away from an organizational approach to objectives-based regulation.”

Send a bill requiring every court case to finish within 12 months

“Every case in our courts must be concluded within 12 months. We will send an executive bill to the national assembly to this effect.”

Allow diaspora voting; settle election cases before swearing-in

“This will include amendments to allow Nigerians in the diaspora to vote and for all election-related cases to be concluded before swearing-in.”

Integrate traditional laws and rulers into the formal system

“For instance, reforms will be pursued for our traditional laws/rulers to be properly integrated in the formal legal/governance system.”

Restore the autonomy of local government councils

“This means giving back governance to the grassroots by restoring the autonomy of local government councils.”

Compensate families of citizens killed during the protests

“Citizens killed during the protests by the security forces, and their families, will receive justice and adequate compensation for the harm suffered.”

Open public-sector service to all Nigerians anywhere in the country

“Make special effort pursuant to the constitutional provisions on the federal character principle, to articulate a policy framework that offers opportunities to all Nigerians to serve in any capacity in the public sector anywhere in the country.”

Raise Nigeria's Human Capital Index through social-sector funding

“We will prioritize scaling up Nigeria's Human Capital Index (HCl), through significant and sustainable funding for the health, education, sports, and social welfare sectors”

Enforce the National Gender Policy across all tiers of government

“Our government will enforce the requirements of the National Gender Policy, aimed at promoting gender equality, affirmative action, and good governance across the three tiers of government.”

Give women and youths slightly more of public appointments

“We shall enforce an equitable distribution of appointments to men, women, and the youths with slightly higher allocation to women and youths.”

Draw private investment to make sport a profitable business

“We will incentivize private sector investment in sports and work towards transforming the sports sector into a profitable business”

Introduce state football and basketball leagues with state governments

“We will work with state governments to introduce state leagues in key sports such as football and basketball to enhance the growth and professionalization of grassroots sports.”