Tunde Bakare promises to attract about $2trn in foreign direct investment annually if elected

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Pastor Tunde Bakare has promised to attract $2trn in foreign direct investment (FDI) annually into the Nigerian economy  if elected as president next year.

Pastor Bakare, 67, who is the general overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly church, was President Muhammadu Buhari's running mate when he stood for president in 2011. Last week, Pastor Bakare picked up his presidential nomination form and today, while on the campaign train in Abuja, said he would address the FDI issue if elected.

In addition, Pastor Bakare said that as president, his administration would deliver in four mandates namely peace, progress, prosperity and possibilities. He explained that the peace mandate would achieve a policy thrust on nationhood leadership, governance and national security, while the progress mandate would cater for sectors like education, healthcare, family and social development.

Furthermore, Pastor Bakare added that the prosperity mandate would focus on economic management and infrastructure. He pointed out that the possibilities mandate would focus on science, technology and innovation, foreign policy, sustainability, arts, culture, entertainment and sports.

Pastor Bakare said: “I am not here to gloss over your disappointments or ignore the fact that even the most genuine effort of government over the decades have taken away your pain. Today, I am offering myself to close the distance between the Nigerian reality and every Nigerian dream, to unlock the power of public policy to accelerate transformation and to infuse our young people with a surge of hope for what is possible.

"I want to roll my sleeves up and work to solve Nigeria’s most intractable problems, to build a cutting-edge nation at the forefront of innovation and to create a new dynamic of belonging in which everyone has a seat and a say I am committed to the realisation of a new Nigeria for every Nigerian in my lifetime.  This is why I am formally announcing that I am running for the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 elections.”

He assured Nigerians that his administration  would consolidate on ongoing developments in transportation by redirecting investments towards systematic and multimodal transportation agenda. Pastor Bakare stressed that through his infrastructure delivery agenda, he would execute a decentralised, private sector-driven electricity reform agenda that would see the generation of up to 100,000MW of on-grid and off-grid electricity by 2030 as part of the Nigerian Geo-economic Development Plan.

"Through public-private partnerships, we will build a 10-lane 3,000km north-south superhighway which will be systematically linked to regional roads and subways feeding each geo-economic zone,” Pastor Bakare added.

According to the African Development Bank, Nigeria has an annual infrastructural investment deficit of N100bn. With an annual budget of about $30bn, Nigeria's government lacks the financial wherewithal to address many of these needs, this making the attracting of FDI key.