The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has pledged to set aside USD $10bn for women and youth empowerment in Kwara State.
He made this promise at the PDP campaign rally, in Ilorin, the Kwara State Capital, on Thursday.
The candidate expressed sadness that the ruling party lied its way into power and has been unable to met its obligation to the electorate.
Atiku said, “Four years ago they came here, and deceived you, told you lies, is that not so? Have they performed better than PDP? Are you going to vote for them again?
“Now this time PDP has come to return Kwara to the mainstream of Nigerian politics, therefore, I appeal to you to elect all PDP candidates from the president to the States Houses of Assembly.
“Now I know the problem of Kwara for a very long time. Kwara is right on the middle of the country connecting the north and the south.
“We are aware, we have seen that the road infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate, it was PDP that built that road and they have come and they have not maintained the road and the roads today are very bad and not motorable.
“We promise you that if you elect PDP at the state and at the national level we will make sure these roads are connected to both sides of the country.
“I want to also assure you that youth unemployment which is all over the country not peculiar to Kwara State.
“ Most of you here are under the age of thirty, most of you have no jobs, and most of you have no businesses.
“We will make sure in our programme; I have promised that I will set aside USD$10 billion to make sure that youths and women get employment. “
He further said, “We will make sure that Small and Medium Enterprises will empower you to make sure you are gainfully employed so that you can earn a decent living. We also promised to restore that security all over this country.
“They came that within 6 months there will be no more insecurity what did we see, we now saw insecurity all over the country, it is total failure by APC in all ramifications.
“We are not here to deceive you, we are not here to tell you lies, and we are your parents. We want you to be like what we are, we will bring you up, and we will make sure you want you to attain your objectives, whatever maybe your ambition. That is the reason why we are here. “
Earlier, National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Iyiochia Ayu said, “We are on our way back to victory, are you better- off than you were 8 years ago? Are you hungrier than 8 years ago?
“PDP is has come back to rescue this country and put it back on the path of development for every family, for every young man, for every old person, we are not a party for one segment of the country that is why we selected a unifier, somebody who will bring everybody on board and make sure that we rebuild this country.
“We made a very big mistake by listening to lies, propaganda, do you like this change, do you want a positive change?
“Do not allow anybody to deceive you, it is time to vote every candidate of the PDP from the House of Assembly, to the Senate to governor and and above all you need a president, that president is Atiku Abubakar.”
He enjoined party supporters to ensure they get their PVCs ready because Nigeria’s future depended on the outcome of the 2023 general elections.
