PREAMBLE
Through this manifesto, we the members of the National Interest Party (“NIP”) re-affirm our faith in our dear country Nigeria. We state without an iota of doubt, that Nigeria will be one of the greatest countries in the world; and hopefully, the first African country to fully provide for each of her citizen’s welfare the moment Nigeria changes her less qualified leaders for the better qualified ones.
NIP will admit only qualified young men and women with undisputed integrity at the helm of its affairs, and will only put forward the exceptional talents amongst this few for elective roles in the Nigerian polity. NIP is the platform for people who are willing to work very hard for the betterment of all Nigerians, not the betterment of a select few. People who are united in the quest for a better Nigeria, people who do not care about our different ethnic origins, religions or creeds, languages, tribes etc. People who will pursue building an all-inclusive Nigeria with the sincerity of purpose that has eluded us over nearly six decades of independence. NIP will afford Nigeria and Nigerians the first ever opportunity to be the greatest and most revered people in this world.
When only those who believe without a doubt in one united Nigeria, those who have successfully undergone enhanced criminal background checks, and those who come through rigorous independent screening in Nigeria and in every country they lived for two years or more take control of our affairs in Nigeria, the result will most definitely be a country which will earn the respect, admiration and envy of all other African nations.
A country which will be admired, and sought after by every institution and country in the international community. A Nigeria which her sons and daughters wherever they may be, will be proud to call their country.
NIP can build a united and prosperous Nigeria. A Nigeria where each citizen know they matter irrespective of individual States of Origin, the circumstances of their birth, or the material acquisitions they so far made in life.
Nigeria comprises of men and women of varying ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. NIP therefore appreciates the enormous difficulties of uniting over 300 ethnic groups who have lost faith in their country, and the daunting task of getting a people who have never trusted each other to start doing so. Our past leaders did not give us the opportunity to start to trust each other, because they acted strictly for personal interests. They took advantage of the trust we bestowed upon them as our leaders and dealt us the worst possible cards.
Our past leaders made governance in Nigeria a means to selfish ends. They took advantage of us and pocketed our national wealth for their personal benefit. They left us hungry, angry and blaming each other. We believed as we were told to do, that it is the fault of one tribe or the other, one religion or the other, one creed or the other. Well, the time to end the charade is now. NIP is saying enough is enough.
We blamed the self-centeredness of our leaders immediately prior to, and following our independence in 1960 for the political disarray which brought about the bitter inter/intra ethnic strife and conflicts Nigeria endured at the time.
Not knowing better, we blamed the infiltration of the Military into governance in Nigeria for the stagnation Nigeria endured under military rule. We decided that the Military progressively brought out the worst weaknesses in us as a people. That the Military brought about the decadent moral conduct of our people by bringing about, and fuelling the abysmal levels of corruption which became the norm in Nigeria. We blamed the Military for killing the idea of reciprocal regards, good neighbourliness, and for destroying the spirit of fair play, whether in official or interpersonal relations because all these became our lot as a nation during and immediately after each Military rule.
Military rule is gone, and has stayed gone for a long time. Nigeria has enjoyed nearly two decades of democratically elected leadership, however, we are still at the same spot – maybe even worse off all things considered. Who is to blame? Who is responsible for our lack of unity, lack of progress, lack of formidable institutions to protect our rights and liberties, lack of pride in our dear nation?
The answer? Each of us. We are individually and collectively responsible for our troubles and until we accept that blame and resolve to do better, we will not make progress as one united country.
We gladly vote the same people we blame for all our troubles to be our leaders each time we are called upon to so do. We forget that a leopard will never change its skin. A cursory look at the political class that has ruled Nigeria since her 1960 independence shows that we are simply rotating among the same people. Whether we look at it from the point of view of our founding fathers and their protégés, or our uniformed men and women and theirs, it has been the same people at the helm of our affairs for nearly six decades. When will we understand that we cannot demand something different from these same people? When will we see that they are our only problem as a country?
The time is now.
Clearly, Nigeria is highly unstable and experiencing a continuous decline in every possible regard because of the lack of morality and complete absence of integrity in the people we have chosen to man public offices on our behalf.
The self-centeredness, and lack of commitment of these leaders to our country has also destroyed our faith in our country. A person, no matter his qualifications and leadership experience cannot win an election in Nigeria without heavy monetary inducement to the leaders of political parties, or the voting class because we now practice the politics of stomach infrastructure. We must change this to move on.
Our docility as a people has meant that our country keeps falling deeper into the abyss that our current and past leaders dug for us. We have a country so beautifully blessed, yet so wonderfully cursed. A country where everyone is patiently awaiting the opportunity to steal national wealth, instead of an opportunity to serve.
NIP believes that only an urgent restoration of participatory democracy, social justice and good governance by a government formed by a responsive political party, a political party led mainly by highly qualified, and properly educated patriotic young men and women of undisputed integrity will solve our numerous problems as a nation.
We believe that we must find, and provide a transparent platform upon which Nigerians who possess outstanding leadership ability, and the requisite knowledge and skills to build a formidable country can ride. We are confident that a complete overhaul of the leadership class in Nigeria is the only solution that will remove the mayhem into which our country has been plunged by our past and present leaders, and bring about the stability, development and progress we all yearn.
NIP shall in the selection of candidates for public office and in its appeal to the public, emphasise the undisputed integrity, the abilities, and the commitment of each candidate to the welfare of every Nigerian. NIP will bring a leadership founded on transparency and accountability in the conduct of all its political activities. NIP will bring a new type of leadership to Nigeria. A forward looking and inspiring leadership. A leadership with a sense of mission. A leadership which only puts forward the honest and not the dishonest, the disciplined and not the erratic, the selfless and not the selfish, the qualified, and not the unqualified. NIP has set the bar very high, and will not negotiate with anyone or any institution which proposes to lower this standard.
NIP is committed to fight, by all means necessary the mismanagement of our national wealth, to recover as much of our stolen wealth as we can find, to eradicate the abysmal levels of corruption in our national life, and the unequal treatment of our people at all levels.
NIP will work hard to restore public confidence in our dear nation, to restore law and order, justice and equity to our people. NIP will encourage the spirit of reconciliation in all Nigerians because we have faith that the great leadership we install in Nigeria will inspire respect from Nigerians and from the rest of the world. We will provide the inspiring and caring leadership that has eluded Nigeria in the six decades following her independence. Our brand of leadership will bring about acceptance, thus positively influence the social reorientation we will actively pursue as a political party.
NIP is a group of like-minded Nigerians of all ages, backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, creed, tribes, educational and professional qualification – every of our differences as a people is well represented. We have come to form the first formidable, national, broad-based, people-oriented and principled political party not affiliated with any corrupt current or past politician or leader. Our common purpose is to work relentlessly for the restoration of true democracy and good governance in Nigeria.
This manifesto is a brief introduction to how we propose to return decision-making to the people of Nigeria by selecting only those truly interested in what becomes of each of us to lead us. This manifesto is the manual for the results we aim to achieve for all of us as a Nation.
We hope you will give us your support so that we can build a Nigeria for All of us.
MISSION STATEMENT
The National Interest Party (“NIP”) has a vision to be a political party led mainly by highly qualified young professionals, and outstanding business people with or without tertiary education. Our target is to find this quality and class of leaders who are mostly within the age bracket of 21 and 45 years to entrust the continued development and sustenance of our political party, as well as that of our country Nigeria in their hands.
NIP is looking to background check, screen and admit at least 20,000 of such men and women in its leadership cadre. Men and women who possess undisputed integrity, and the requisite leadership skills and experience, to take over the leadership of Nigeria. Leaders who can, and who will earnestly work to help Nigeria recover from the six decades of mismanagement of her resources. To help Nigerians come out of the decades of suffering, and unending disaccord among her people.
NIP is a political party bound solely by common ideologies, so that ethnicity, religion, tribe, education, creed etc. are of no value to the members and leaders of NIP. NIP is for people whose only interest is to build, maintain, and be a part of a Nigeria which functions for the benefit of all of us – not for the benefit of a select few.
NIP will field only credible candidates at every election it participates in. The party will achieve this by conducting constitutionally enshrined enhanced criminal background checks, and character screening of candidates before admitting them in the party’s leadership cadre. Each person approved for leadership under NIP will be automatically certified as having led a squeaky clean past, thus can be entrusted with the leadership of the party, and the leadership of a country such as our Nigeria.
NIP will not give leadership opportunity to aspirants who have nothing else to offer, but their deep pockets. Such are the candidates who come to power for the sole purpose of enriching themselves with our national wealth. Aspirants with deep pockets, must also come with integrity and clean records from their past to qualify to lead.
On the other hand, aspirants under the NIP platform are rest assured that provided they pass NIP’s high levels of independent background checks and screening, they may put themselves forward for elections at every level they qualify for in Nigeria without paying one kobo for application forms. No aspirant will ever have to buy any person’s mandate, as the entire party will be involved in selecting the candidates that will ride on its platform to contest all general elections.
NIP proposes to achieve this by being a technology driven political party.
Indeed, every political campaign costs a tremendous amount of money, however the bulk of the money spent in Nigerian politics is used to bribe party executives, and the congresses that elect the party representatives who then go on to contest the general elections. With the benefit of technology, NIP can control this. The party will also reach many more Nigerians in communities and towns in the remotest part of Nigeria, and NIP will also reach every Nigerian outside the shores of Nigeria.
NIP is saying enough is enough. We are bringing the type of transparency to our system of selecting the general election contestants that will be the envy of the whole world. Every party member will vote during the primaries which select NIP’s aspirants for general elections. NIP will achieve this by using online voting mechanisms, so that the candidate who achieves the highest number of votes will emerge the sole candidate for endorsement, affirmation and adoption to the Independent National Electoral Commission at the congress specified for that purpose.
NIP is designed to be a technology driven political party so as to guarantee the highest possible levels of transparency within the party. Technology will also help the party take very quick decisions, and implement structures which are of longer term benefit to the party. It will also ensure the party functions at low costs, while attaining the highest possible standards and efficiency in carrying out its aims and objectives.
Nigeria has over 66 million people between the ages of 16 and 45 years, most of whom can navigate the internet, but have however never registered to vote, or to be members of any political party, or voted during past elections. NIP proposes to reach this class wherever in the world they may be, as they will be the ones shaping our policies for the 2019 general elections. NIP proposes to afford every Nigerian, the opportunity to join our new system of nation building.
NIP will use its online and physical grassroots outreach programmes to re-orient our young ones in primary, secondary, vocational and tertiary institutions of learning; our unemployed youth who are now conductors, okada drivers, and hawkers on our streets. Our recent graduates, National Youth Service Corps Members, our young professionals who see Nigeria as only capable of offering a bleak future. Even our parents and grandparents who have simply resigned to fate. NIP’s online presence is open to every Nigerian to join from wherever in the world they may be.
Nigerians with multiple nationalities and foreigners who have obtained Nigerian citizenships by valid means are welcome to join NIP and participate in her activities.
NIP will collaborate with schools, churches, traders and business people in every part of Nigeria, including places as remote as Koma Hills to provide a platform for people who are 18 years or over in such communities to join the party at their own home wards online. Those who believe they meet the leadership threshold may apply for the requisite screening to move on to the leadership cadre of the party – all online.
NIP is not restricted to the educated or the elites, however basic knowledge of how to navigate the internet is a requirement for full participation in party activities. We are hopeful that this is acceptable to the general populace because NIP is bringing peace, hope, and oneness to Nigeria.
NIP is not coming to tell Nigerians the details of how bad previous administrations have been. NIP is not promising overnight wealth to anyone. However, we at NIP are sure that most of our problems as a country can be surmounted when we join hands to elect the best of us into political offices. When we entrust our welfare in the hands of those who are not only qualified, but also driven by the zeal to serve.
We are asking you to give us an opportunity to change our story in this country. An opportunity to do things differently. To do things the way they ought to have been done even by our founding fathers long gone.
NIP will adhere steadfastly to the principles of inclusion and ensure the constitutional requirement to think Federal Character permeates the entire structure of the party. In doing this however, NIP completely rejects the zoning and rotational principles adopted by other political parties in Nigeria. The zoning and rotational principles have instead of help us build a stable and all-inclusive governments in Nigeria, limited us in our choice for leadership. Rather than pick the best of us to contest electoral positions, we limit ourselves to those from the particular region the leadership of our country have been zoned. NIP believes this must change for Nigeria to get her best minds at the helm of her affairs at all times.
ERADICATING CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA
We make the constant mistake of thinking and concluding that corruption only affects those of us in public office. This is incorrect.
Corruption in Nigeria permeates the entire nation. Almost everyone expects additional gain in order to perform duties that we are otherwise legally bound to perform. Our military and our police mount road blocks that we cannot cross without payment to them, the secretaries in our offices will not let one enter a properly scheduled meeting, unless one came with a gift, the manager pockets our holiday pay because their spouse needs medical treatment abroad, our civil servants will not progress your job until you agree their own settlement – you may even have to prepay. We underpay our workforce because we know they cannot walk away or sue us for paying less than the minimum wage, we join investment schemes we know are sure to end with somebody losing their savings, we will not vote a worthy candidate who is unable to pay for our mandate. In fact, even our very young children today refuse to run simple errands, unless there is some immediate financial gratification to them. These are all very serious corrupt practices, even though we are not responsible for national wealth.
To the rest of the world, the word corruption is synonymous to the word Nigeria. And the truth is, they are not incorrect. Offensive as we find it when they say Nigeria is fantastically corrupt, we need to accept it is unfortunate, but true and then move to do something about it.
Accepting therefore that corruption has eaten into our core as a people, NIP has adopted the position that it will use educational programmes and tools, the print media, television and radio stations, physical and online outreach programmes to reorient our people. We will concentrate on the younger generations because we all find it hard to let go of values we learned in our formative years.
NIP will also only put forward incorruptible men and women for election into public office in Nigeria. Men and women who do not scale through NIP’s high thresholds to qualify to run for office in Nigeria, will not have the opportunity to contest under NIP’s platform. Leaders who come into power under NIP will also only appoint similar people into every cabinet they are required to constitute by law.
Finally, NIP will relentlessly follow and trace national wealth into every personal, corporate or national account they landed in the six decades of our independence.
This will enable us do well for our country and her people, it will serve to severely punish our past leaders and their beneficiaries for misappropriating our national wealth, and serve as a true deterrent from corrupt practices by those we put in office in the future. There is no punishment more painful than becoming rich after stealing national wealth, only to have it all taken back after you have gotten comfortable spending way above your means.
When we know that anything we steal from Nigeria today will be paid back either by us and our beneficiaries in our lifetime, or paid back by our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and/or any surviving beneficiaries long after we are gone, we will pause to thoroughly think about it, before we make the decision to steal from Nigeria.
Civil Tracing of our National Wealth
The process of following and tracing national wealth will involve a thorough breakdown of the earnings of our country from independence to date. This calls for a review of every kobo previous and current administrations spent out of our national purse and the reasons given for such spending.
Where funds allocated to specified projects appear ridiculously high at first instance, the tracing entities will simply follow such funds to see how each kobo was indeed spent. Where such funds end up serving purposes for which they were not assigned, or where such funds end up in private accounts, or in acquiring assets for the benefit of individuals or organisations for which those funds were not, and should not have been allocated, such assets will be seized and returned to our national coffers.
Clearly, this will lead to many of us getting called upon to return funds and assets we received innocently, having no previous knowledge that they were the proceeds of the criminal conduct of our family members, friends, and colleagues.
This should however not deter us because sacrificing in this way for the betterment of our country will be a worthy sacrifice. Indeed, we will finally build a Nigeria where all men are finally equal, where we can all relax knowing that those we entrusted our national wealth to, know better than to steal from us.
Criminal Prosecution in Cases of Overwhelming Evidence
Prosecuting criminal trials costs the country a lot of resources. NIP is aware that to get a conviction, a case must be proven beyond reasonable doubt. As a result, NIP will concentrate its efforts on following, tracing, and recovering Nigeria’s misappropriated national wealth, thus pay less attention to pursuing criminal cases against offenders.
However, for cases where there is overwhelming evidence, enough to obtain a conviction for any individual or organisation, NIP will stop at nothing to obtain such convictions.
Encourage the Study of Law of Equity and Trusts
To help NIP pursue the equitable remedies of following and tracing, graduates who specialised in the law of equity and trusts, forensic accounting, criminology and forensic evidence will be employed in torrents to join or even man the anti-graft agencies, whose jobs it will be to follow and recover these funds for our country.
NIP therefore encourages young undergraduates of law, those contemplating Masters degrees in legal practice, and existing legal practitioners to pay particular attention to the law of equity and trusts and the knowledge of tracing. We also encourage those just about to choose their courses of study home and abroad to consider forensic accounting and criminology extensively. These skills will be of immense value to Nigeria under the leadership of NIP.
Independent Anti-Graft Agencies
Our anti-graft agencies have been a sham over the entire years of their existence. This is no wonder, as they are constituted by the same men and women responsible for all the misery caused by financial crimes in Nigeria.
NIP will constitute independent anti-graft agencies, and ensure it is the best qualified of us who are selected to man their affairs.
FEDERAL CHARACTER
The concept of Federal Character is enshrined in our constitution, and rightly so because the spirit of the policy is great.
Our leaders however hide behind the constitutional provision to commit atrocities on us as a people. They form bloated governments and hand pick their family, friends and supporters who are unqualified to even stand guards at our washrooms and entrust serious positions on them.
NIP supports Federal Character. It is a great provision which if followed judiciously, will ensure an all-inclusive government for our country. Federal Character does not at all mean that the worst of us have to lead us. On the contrary, it still allows the best of us from all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria to come together in solidarity to provide the best possible leadership our country could get.
NIP is of the view that healthy competition for public appointments in our States, and geo-political zones must be encouraged. When the best qualified from each State, and the best of them from each geo-political zone are chosen to man our establishments and institutions, Nigeria will get the best minds to occupy public offices.
Federal Character is about balancing the best of Nigeria, not at all about making the worst of us important because they come from one or the other State or region.
REBUILDING THE ECONOMY AND JOB CREATION
The intellectual, organisational and administrative incapacities of past leaderships in Nigeria led to the development and implementation of unresponsive economic policies for Nigeria. This led to unprecedented hardship to the people of Nigeria.
NIP is therefore committed to an economic recovery which will benefit every Nigerian. We will fight to ensure resources are adequately allocated nationwide to ensure rural development, job training, and critical infrastructural investments throughout Nigeria.
NIP will work to improve our roads, railways, airports and the use of the internet in community development. We will advance Nigeria’s infrastructure so as to attract businesses and thereby create good jobs across the entire country. Under NIP’s leadership, Nigerians will enjoy a much easier life, with more and better roads, train networks, reliable and safe air transportation, universal broadband and better mobile phone connections, so as to ensure everyone is part of the global digital economy.
NIP will aim to achieve a self-reliant economy which will depend on the vast resources available to our country, including her people. We will strive for a policy of privatisation for sectors of the economy where government control is only a deterrent to development.
NIP aims to diversify the economy, reduce reliance on crude oil, reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, and with that expand the middle class which will strengthen our economy.
Create Meaningful Well Paid Jobs
NIP aims to put our people to work in decent paying jobs in both the public and private sectors. To create good-paying jobs which can support a middle-class life for working class Nigerians and small business owners. NIP is committed to doing everything possible to build a full-employment economy, where every Nigerian has a job which pays enough to raise a family and live in dignity with a sense of purpose.
NIP will build a strong, sustained economy for Nigeria when we all come together to work as one united team notwithstanding our differences. Together, we can electrify the entire country, build, update and expand our federal, state, and rural roads and bridges, improve our airports, our passenger and freight rail lines. We can build reliable energy and water systems, modernise our schools, improve and expand our mobile and broadband networks. We can build shipping, auto and aviation industries to be envied world over, support research and development in medicine, communications, science and technology. We can also manage and maintain all the infrastructure we build, our investments in us and in our future generations – so much high value work that we can all do and get good pay for doing them. What are we waiting for?
When we take the bull by the horn, so much will be achieved for all of us through the selfless work of NIP’s selection of qualified leaders.
Cut Out Wasteful Spending
NIP has zero tolerance for wasteful spending. We will therefore tackle waste, fraud, and abuse of office to make sure our national wealth is spent wisely and efficiently.
This means that multiple private jets for political office holders, frivolous sums allocated to the office of first ladies, multiple homes and guest houses for political office holders, staff whose only purpose for being called staff in government houses is to get paid undeserved salaries, trips with a battalion of people who are not needed for the success of the journey, multiple extraordinarily expensive vehicles which are of no use to the political office holders or their family, cars which only end up as decorations in garages, frivolous expenditure under the guise of entertainment – all payed from the tax payers’ money? This is not acceptable to NIP, so enough of it already.
Make Banks Work for Nigerians
NIP will strive to fund lending schemes which will ensure banks in Nigeria help secure our recovery, back our youth in their pursuit of good education and back our businesses to create jobs and ensure growth in our economy.
NIP will strive to create an independent, national infrastructure bank that will support critical infrastructure development in Nigeria. This bank will provide low interest long term loans and other financial assistance for investments in energy, water, information technology especially broadband, local manufacturing, housing, transportation, and other infrastructure development projects.
NIP will encourage lending to support investment in start-ups and innovative schemes, thus help firms which are looking to expand, invest and take on new employees.
Effective System of Taxation
The tax collection system in Nigeria is a sham. Therefore, tackling tax evasion, tax avoidance, and tax planning will be important in NIP’s long-term economic plan. NIP will build capacity in global automatic tax information exchange systems, and significantly improve the Federal and States Inland Revenue’s capacity as Nigeria’s tax authority. Employed individuals, small businesses and companies which earn taxable income each year will be made to understand they risk significant legal penalties for failure to pay tax as at when due. NIP will educate the people about the importance of tax collection.
Higher Tax Rates for High Income Earners
NIP believes the wealthiest Nigerians and the largest corporations in Nigeria must pay their fair share of taxes. We believe that by making those at the top end of the earning quota, and the largest corporations pay their fair share of tax, we can pay for the ambitious progressive infrastructural investments we are proposing. These projects will in turn create good-paying jobs for our people without adding to our debt.
NIP will claw back unnecessary tax breaks for big telecommunications companies, big oil and gas companies, and such other companies as our current legislations allow free funds through bogus tax breaks.
NIP will however support policies which ensure that our tax code rewards businesses that make investments and provide good-paying jobs in Nigeria
Zero Tax for Minimum Wage Earners and Petty Traders
NIP believes Nigerians who earn the minimum wage, and those who use petty trades to pay their daily living should be exempt from paying taxes.
Tax rates will therefore be set for different earning class, so that the amount of tax each individual pays in a direct correlation to the amount of taxable income earned.
Uniform Tax Rate for Corporations
Corporations must pay taxes at the same rate irrespective of size and location. The deciding factor is the amount of profit made by such organisations.
GOVERNANCE AT GRASSROOTS LEVEL
Whereas privatisation forms a major part of the economic policy NIP will adopt, we are fully aware that we should not be contracting, or privatising work that is inherently governmental in nature. These will include our postal services, public transportation, foundational school services, and state and local government services.
NIP is of the view that government services should be culturally and linguistically appropriate. So even though the federal government is constitutionally responsible for making laws on almost every part of our life as a country, our national assembly can already devolve some of these matters to the State and Local Governments to enable smooth running of government.
We believe that the most effective way to identify the problems facing our country is to devolve more power to manage resources to our local governments. Useful data can be collected directly from different communities to fully understand and address their specific needs. The federal and state governments can develop solutions by enacting evidence-based public policies which are in tandem with the constitutional provisions.
We recognise the confusion this may cause considering our current constitutional provisions, however there is huge value in allowing our communities design remedies for their problems from within. The state and federal government will carefully consider the needs of different communities according to the proposals from those closest to them, and affirm or veto specific measures where the need for such arises.
Introducing the use of technology to improve outcomes and government accountability at all levels will also allow proper goal setting, and help track performance.
Build a Culture of Transparency
NIP will push for affordable internet because this is a great tool for watching the actions and performances of public office holders. People at the grassroots with access to the internet can very quickly report issues of mismanagement of public funds or complete neglect of public duties by those they were assigned to.
Building and policing the culture of transparency we introduce will be highly valuable in the bid to redesign and re-shape our affairs in Nigeria.
Whistle Blowing
NIP proposes to introduce a secure system of whistle blowing. Workers in both public and private sectors will have an opportunity to report illegal activities that their bosses are engaged in without risking their safety or their jobs.
A mechanism will however be built in to avoid malicious reports and those only intended to bring about personal selfish gain to the whistle blower.
POPULATION CENSUS
We hear we are 170 million, 186 million, 240 million from statistics put together by guess work. The reality is that we do not know how many we are in Nigeria. But, we need to know so as to effectively plan for each demography.
NIP will therefore equip the National Population Commission with the resources needed to prepare for, and conduct a cost effective, complete and accurate census in Nigeria.
We will improve counting the segments of Nigeria’s population that are historically and persistently undercounted, specifically communities which are in remote areas, immigrants, old people, young children, people with disabilities, our rural and low-income populations, those who are generally not seen due to religious requirements etc. We will make it a legal requirement for the public to participate and be counted, therefore not getting counted and registered will result in losing out on specified rights.
INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY
NIP will support ambitious public and private investments in science, technology, and research. We will use information technology (IT) to create good jobs in every community in Nigeria.
Entrepreneurship and innovation are fundamental to our future economic growth in the IT industry. This will trickle down to our energy, manufacturing, transportation, health, retail, services, and all other sectors. With proper investments in IT, we will nurture the next generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs, to make sure Nigeria is posed to innovate and compete with the rest of the world in every sector.
New technologies are already transforming global economy, because they work and they have the power to generate trillions in economic output. NIP is already building on this to address the issues facing our dear country, however we must harness these forces and use IT to educate our people, train our workforce, support entrepreneurship, promote inclusion in the digital economy, attract and retain talented people in public office, invest in research and development, innovation hubs, and get fresh ideas to market.
Technology as a Tool to Combat Inefficiency and Corrupt Practices
High speed internet connectivity should not be a luxury in Nigeria, as NIP believes it is a necessity for our future economic success, social mobility, education, health care, and public safety.
To afford each Nigerian an opportunity to help us build an efficient government, NIP will strive to connect every household in Nigeria to high-speed broadband at an affordable rate, and help institutions offer free WiFi to the public.
NIP will therefore push for a free and open internet, but will however protect the intellectual property rights of artists, creators, and inventors in the IT industry.
Encouraging Students to Learn Extensive IT Skills
NIP believes we need to ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn computer science by the time they graduate from secondary school. At the primary and secondary school levels, basic computer skills must be part of the curriculum.
NIP believes we must use IT innovation to promote grassroots participation in policy issues, and enhance opportunities to achieve greater economic self-sufficiency for Nigerians, especially people with disabilities.
OUR JUDICIARY
NIP believes that an independent Judiciary is crucial to the effective and smooth running of any government. The recent spate of events with our Judiciary has caused a complete lack of confidence in our Judiciary – rightly so. Allegations of corruption in the Judiciary is unacceptable to NIP.
NIP is therefore confident that cleansing our Judiciary is exactly as important as every other task we embark upon.
NIP will therefore appoint senior lawyers, and judges who have led very clean pasts and who have no scandals trailing their career in the legal profession into an independent Commission for the purpose of safe-guarding our Judiciary.
This Commission will work with the National Judicial Council (“NJC”) to independently review every case each magistrate and judge decided throughout their career. Where the facts of the case and the legal principles upon which they were decided appear grossly unconnected with the decisions reached, such cases irrespective of what cadre of court decided it, will be singled out for review by the Supreme Court. This way, the correct decision will be reached by the Supreme Court, and the right precedent will be set for all lower courts to subsequently follow.
Where any particular magistrate or judge is found to have decided up to three cases illogically, such person will be proposed for immediate retirement in accordance with the provisions of our extant laws. Following retirement, the anti-graft agencies will be invited to thoroughly investigate such magistrates and judges and ascertain they were not involved in corrupt practices. NIP will back the prosecution of any of such men and women, and their accomplices where evidence of corrupt practice is found against them.
NIP will also only appoint magistrates and judges who will defend the constitutional principles of liberty and equality for all Nigerians. Those who will work for the betterment of all of us, who will protect our woman, our children, our disabled persons. Men and women of unquestionable integrity who will defend and protect our democracy. Who will show Nigerians that the Constitution protects all of us and not only the rich and powerful.
NIP will move to reform the entire Judiciary. Provide updated equipment and human resources in the form of secretaries, stenographers, researchers etc. This will ensure our magistrates and judges work a lot more efficiently with lower risks to their physical and mental health.
OUR LEGISLATURE
The Nigerian legislature of today has men and women who do not know what their legislative duties entail. Some of the videos we have seen of plenary sessions in these chambers in recent times have left much to be desired.
NIP will ensure only the best of us are elected into legislative offices. People who even though they are not lawyers or who have no inkling as to what legal drafting or debates mean, have a basic understanding of Nigerian legal and political system. People who will walk into those chambers armed with information to help agree policies which will reflect positively on all of us when implemented.
NIP will institute an independent remuneration commission for our legislators so as to ascertain what our country pays our law makers and the reasonability or not, of those payments. The future remuneration of all legislators in Nigeria will be set and implemented by this independent commission.
THE CIVIL SERVICE
We are committed to a strong, effective, and accountable civil service, which will deliver the quality public services that Nigerians have every right to expect. Gone are the days where people become civil servants based strictly on personal relationships.
NIP will cleanse the Nigerian Civil Service of ghost workers, remove every position that is just a decoration, and ensure admission into the Civil Service is strictly on merit.
A clear indication of the requirement to take on the advertised roles in the civil service will determine the person or persons who eventually get the employment. Federal Character will be strictly enforced, however, this will not result in employing unqualified people into our civil service.
NIP also proposes the use of CCTV cameras and recording devices in public offices. Where customers and observers report frequent abuse of office at any specific office, the CCTVs in such offices will also serve as evidence base to decide what disciplinary measures are appropriate for the offence committed.
HOUSING
NIP believes that every Nigerian deserves a roof over their heads. As such, NIP will introduce housing schemes for low and no-income earners. Accommodation in these apartments and houses will be let to our brothers and sisters who sleep on the streets, under the bridges and those who live under very unsanitary conditions.
Unless they are severely disabled, they will not be accommodated free of charge, as our economy cannot afford free housing for able bodied Nigerians at the moment. Each individual or family who is accommodated under these schemes will be made to pay a reasonable sum for their accommodation. Payment however can be in money’s worth until proper jobs are found for these men and women so they can start paying full sums for their accommodation.
Money’s worth will be measured in hours of community services. The men and women accommodated under these schemes will be required to pay for their accommodation by working required hours on community specific projects which they are reasonably qualified to undertake. Failure to perform the tasks as contractually agreed between them and their respective housing scheme, will result in forfeiture.
NIP will make our banks work for us on housing. We will pursue reasonable conditions for granting mortgages to qualified men and women who can be reasonably expected to repay the loans over an agreed period. NIP will review the requirements for first time buyers to provide title to property as collateral in order to obtain mortgages.
ENERGY
Energy is a major source of concern in Nigeria, and despite innovative efforts by many administrations, common Nigerians still live mostly in darkness. Our industries do not function at full capacity, and everything is much more expensive because of the high costs of energy.
Electricity
NIP recognises that economic development in Nigeria hinges on the production of, and availability of electricity. NIP therefore proposes to review the agreements the Nigerian Government entered with private electricity production and distribution companies with a view to renegotiate conditions which have clearly stalled progress in the delivery of electricity to the masses.
Where necessary, concessions will be entered with affected companies to cushion the effects of any renegotiation which is deemed necessary.
Special attention will be paid to electricity production and distribution stations, plants and turbines across the country. CCTV cameras with round the clock vigilance will be installed at all such stations. Enactments will be passed to combat all acts of vandalism to these units. Such acts will call for immediate arrest and accelerated trials at relevant courts of competent jurisdictions. Stringent punishment will be meted to saboteurs and proper investigations carried out to discover the big shots behind such sabotage.
Solar Energy
NIP will develop schemes which encourage the use of solar energy in housing and for industrial purposes. We will promote the education of unemployed young men and women in this area so as to enable them acquire relevant expertise to join the solar power industry. This again is another way of creating good paying jobs for our people.
Water as a Source of Energy
Using water to operate machines is as old as modern mankind. Water as an energy source involves using waves, tides and hydro energy to produce hydroelectric power from lakes, rivers, and the ocean. NIP will encourage investments in the field of hydro energy to increase electricity yield in Nigeria.
Wind Energy
NIP will build wind farms across the country and encourage wind energy production on a massive scale – particularly in the more arid parts of the country. Private power generating companies will be encouraged to invest in the growth of small wind energy turbines across the country to help power traffic warning signs, street lights etc. Larger turbines will however contribute to the domestic power supply, producing electricity which can be exported to neighbouring countries after domestic needs are satisfied.
HEALTH
NIP is committed to improving standards in the area of the physical, and mental health and well-being of every Nigerian. We believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, so our health care system has to put Nigerians first.
NIP will fight for a comprehensive system of primary health care delivery which will include dental and mental health care. We will improve federal and state hospitals. We will provide funding for qualified community health centres to be built across all local communities in the country. We will ensure these health centres are well equipped and supported by qualified workforce in each community based setting.
NIP will provide training and support to this workforce, encourage private health providers to work with our rural communities through our National Youth Service Corps and other institutions. We will create a comprehensive strategy to increase the pool of primary health care professionals in Nigeria, and by this – significantly increase the number of our men and women who are gainfully employed.
We must renew and expand our existing facilities, however emphasis will be laid to developing these community health centres, community mental health centres, family planning centres, and accident and emergency clinics near all major roads in Nigeria.
These health centres will provide critically important community based prevention and treatment in our cities, towns and villages. They will aid accident victims in situations of emergency, and help Nigerians learn basic facts on how to provide proper care for our elderly, disabled and young children, prevent unwanted pregnancies, and avoid communicable diseases to mention only but a few.
Compulsory Health Insurance Schemes
NIP will not pursue a blanket free health care services for every Nigerian. This is unsustainable in our current economic clime, and will probably be in centuries to come. We however propose a universal health care insurance scheme for all Nigerians.
Nigerians who are too indigent to afford any contributions towards the health insurance scheme will be spared the burden of making contributions to the scheme. However, Nigerians who earn more than the minimum wage will be required to pay a percentage of their income towards the scheme. High net worth Nigerians who wish to, may join the scheme at a higher premium, otherwise they may hold private health insurance or remain uninsured if they choose to. In which case, they have to pay for health services in accordance with their specific needs.
Private Health Insurance Schemes
NIP guarantees that health care is a fundamental right for every Nigerian. As part of that guarantee, NIP will not place barriers to private businesses which propose to join the health insurance business. Health care costs are very high, so comprehensive health insurance will help many Nigerians irrespective of their status and locality.
NIP will experiment with private health insurance plans proposed by investors so as to determine what universal health care system best suits our circumstances in Nigeria. NIP will aim to ensure health insurance is available to every person, in every corner whatever their level of income.
FOOD SECURITY
NIP believes that food is a fundamental right of every Nigerian. We must ensure self-sufficiency in food production in Nigeria, to guarantee our food security as a nation.
Agriculture
Agriculture in Nigeria is still viewed by many as the option to consider for our rural and uneducated communities or for when we retire. Indeed, Agriculture involves small scale planting of food crops, raising domestic animals for consumption, and providing basic raw materials for various industries in our economy, however all this can and should be done on an industrial scale.
NIP will support the next generation of arable and pastoral farmers and ranchers throughout the country. We will provide funding and encourage programs which protect and enhance family farms, local food markets, and regional food systems, however we will also invite investments on a large scale to every manner of agriculture and production of raw materials for use in Nigeria and for export.
NIP will develop programmes to help our younger generations take on the study of agriculture as a core module. We will actively encourage industrial farming and food processing by offering free to low cost materials, loans and subsidies to businesses in the food production industry which deliver feasible plans for urbanising and exponentially expanding our food production systems in Nigeria.
Portable Water
Nigeria is indeed the most populous country in Africa and her population increases rapidly. Over the years, poor governance and corruption have led to years of water shortages in every part of our country.
Our children are dying of cholera, typhoid, diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases. Constant water supply and availability of piped water is considered a luxury in most parts of our country. The few facilities for the production and distribution of portable water available to us, have not been improved in the six decades of our independence.
NIP will allocate resources to the improvement of facilities for distilling and distributing portable piped water to every part of Nigeria including the rural communities. We will work closely with organisations which have significantly improved the condition in more remote communities, follow and expand their solutions so as to improve on the production and distribution of portable water to every household and community in Nigeria.
EDUCATION
NIP believes every Nigerian child, no matter their ethnicity, religion, family earnings, or location should have access to high quality education, preferably from nursery school onwards. We will provide the opportunity for our young persons to get great education, so Nigeria can one day join the league of the best educated people and workforce in the world.
In support of efforts to educate Nigeria, NIP will set up a Sovereign Education Fund which will invest wisely for the purpose of supporting the education of Nigerians, the training of our educators, and the promotion of the institutions of learning in Nigeria. The fund will award scholarships to highly talented but indigent students, support research, and promote quality training of students in Nigerian schools.
The Fund will also be responsible for providing waivers to indigent parents of pupils in Secondary schools to enable them study at the time they should, and to prevent that parents use lack of funds as excuse to avoid their responsibilities to ensure their children are properly educated.
NIP will set up a strict enforcement agency which will ensure parents who persistently avoid their duties to ensure their children attend school, are properly punished in accordance with extant laws.
Pre-School
NIP aims to provide high-quality, nursery school programs to help our kids get a strong start for their education. We believe that making early childhood education is a priority, because research has shown how much early learning can impact life-long success. NIP will invest in early childhood programs and provide indigent and low-income families with financial support in form of tax cuts to enable them access the high-quality childcare, and preschool programs designed for their communities.
NIP will support organisations which provide quality childcare in terms of training for their workers, to ensure that early childhood educators are of high quality.
Primary Education
NIP will support compulsory and free primary education for every Nigerian of primary school age. Free healthy school meals will also be provided for each child in every primary education facility in Nigeria – be they private or publicly run.
To fund the free school meal initiative, NIP proposes to launch a Free-Meal-For-Our-Children campaign which will be a charity which gathers funds from individuals and organisations, strictly for the purpose of providing free warm meals for every child in every primary school in Nigeria.
Secondary Education
NIP proposes compulsory quality secondary education for every Nigerian who has completed primary education.
Children from indigent families will be exempt from paying school fees for their secondary education, however children of parents who have an identifiable source of livelihood will be required to pay subsidised school fees.
Healthy meals will be provided at each Secondary School for the pupils, however the meals will only be subsidised. They will not be completely free of charge.
Tertiary Education
A University degree or other forms of post-secondary education is required for most jobs that pay very well in Nigeria and in most parts of the world. Incessant ASUU strikes have however stagnated the rate of graduation, and the quality of education our young minds are getting is at its lowest.
NIP supports paying to get tertiary education, however every young Nigerian who wants tertiary education, should be able to get one. This means money should never stand in the way of getting good quality tertiary education, a degree or equivalent credentials.
As a result, NIP proposes a scheme where low to no-interest loans will be made available to aspiring University students in the age bracket of 16 and 30 years. Younger and older applicants may be considered under outlined circumstances which will be for the education schemes to set.
NIP believes that our current and projected economic circle calls for the privatisation of most of our Universities in Nigeria. The State and Federal governments may retain ownership of some of these institutions, but most of them should go to private hands.
In the short term, privatisation will allow funds and investments to flow into our tertiary institutions, remove strike actions which hamper progress, make it the responsibility of the owners of the schools to provide good quality education at reasonable costs to the students, thereby reducing government involvement in the financing and equipping of tertiary institutions to a minimum.
In the long run, both government and private Universities which are doing excellently well set very high standards that all others will aspire to beat. Whether students are at private or public Universities, fees will be commensurate to the programs of study, so there will not be arbitrary increment in school fees – whether at private or public institutions.
Vocational Schools
NIP recognises that all of us are not equally endowed, however lack of interest or ability in terms of tertiary education should not equal to lack of opportunities. NIP will therefore make access to vocational schools and colleges possible for students who wish to learn a trade rather than go to tertiary institutions.
Schools for Special Needs People
This category of people is the most neglected in Nigeria. NIP recognises that our children, parents, and siblings who are blind, lame, deaf, dumb, autistic – whatever may be their disability, are exactly as worthy of attention as the rest of us who do not suffer any disability.
NIP therefore proposes a scheme where special needs schools will be built to suit the different age groups and different needs of our disabled community. We will also design schemes that will take physical disabilities into account in designing homes for this group of Nigerians.
NIP is a government for all. We will not close our eyes to our special needs community.
OUR YOUTH
Nigeria is the only country in the world where a 45 years old person is called youth. In other countries, when you hear youth, you think 14 to 25 years.
NIP is committed to raising young people of class for our New Nigeria. The young people in the world are no longer seen as future leaders, they are now today’s leaders, and the time for our children in Nigeria to join them in that leadership is now.
Sports
NIP will reorganise the entire sporting landscape in Nigeria. We will involve our young ones in the reinvigoration, refurbishment, and rebuilding of the systems and structures involved with sports and sporting activities in Nigeria. This will include all our stadiums, sporting halls, sports schools and clubs etc.
We will fund the introduction of sports and other leisurely physical activities in our primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions. Our preschools will use active play to keep the children fit, and our vocational schools will include those strictly designed for sports related studies.
We will put men and women of great calibre in charge of our sporting institutions and departments in government. Problems and concerns can be directed by the general public to the boards which will be known to our local communities. We will encourage community sporting activities where outstanding performances will be recognised and rewarded.
NIP will promote and support our athletes who go out to represent us as a country. We will not let them go hungry. We will properly accommodate them and provide them with agreed financial incentives as at when due. We will not tolerate irresponsibility from those we entrust the safety and care of our sports men and women into their hands.
Management and Leadership Development Programmes
NIP will work with our secondary and tertiary institutions of learning to inculcate basic management and leadership development programmes in their syllabuses. When our children learn about responsibility early on, we are less likely to raise children who will follow in the footsteps of the men and women we have experienced in the leadership and governance of Nigeria till date.
The National Youth Service Corps
The National Youth Service Corps (“NYSC”) is a creation of the post war rebuilding that took place in the 70s. Nigeria has come away from that conflict, however we are not yet fully integrated.
The NYSC programme has proven extremely useful in helping our young minds develop creative ways to solve problems in the communities they are deployed for service. The programme helps bridge the gap between leaving educational institutions – be they at home or abroad, and facing real life challenges working within communities alien to our their cultures. Our Corps members gain first-hand experience of ethnic and religious groups different from theirs, and try to adjust accordingly to be useful to those communities. This is priceless, so we will maintain the spirit if the NYSC.
NIP will review the NYSC program with a view to restructure it and provide adequate funding for its proper management, and the management of the welfare of the Corps members. The new programme will completely exclude our Military, so that the three weeks of compulsory orientation camp will not be necessary. This part of the program adds no value, and causes participants a lot more harm than it does them any good.
NIP will support reasonable punishment – including the requirement to pay higher taxes, and/or imposition of alternative means of serving the country on defecting young graduates. However, the policy that requires NYSC Discharge or Exemption Certificate before our young men and women may become gainfully employed is counter-productive, thus will be removed.
OUR CHILDREN
Many of our young children in Nigeria have no access to education, they work under hazardous conditions to help their families, and many are forced to serve as armed persons and bomb carriers in the terrorist activities we witnessed on our shores in recent years. Our children are targeted in their schools, kidnapped, made to endure inhumane conditions and assaults on their dignity, and left with little or no hope for a bright future. They are often exploited and abused by the individuals responsible for their care.
NIP will work with our parents and communities to give our children the best possible start in life including, security, the best possible parental love and care – even where it must be in foster homes, good health, education, opportunity for leisure and play, and opportunities to choose career paths in accordance with their personal interests.
Nigeria has come a long way, but infant mortality is still a big problem especially in our more rural communities. NIP will work with our community health centres to ensure our children get free and compulsory immunisations from birth onwards. We will invest in community wide primary health care delivery systems aimed at helping our less educated mothers adopt good sanitary and hygiene practices for the benefit of their infants. We will help our rural communities gain access to portable water, so as to reduce the infant mortality rates associated with water borne diseases.
Malaria is the biggest child-killer in Nigeria. We will find answers to malaria that will completely eradicate it from Nigeria. We have seen this happen in countries around the world, why not Nigeria?
Development through Leisure Activities
NIP proposes with the help of our parents and communities, to establish playgrounds and recreation centres for children in every corner of our communities. Children learn very fast from playing, therefore providing opportunities for learning while playing will be a key factor in NIP’s design that our children have the best start in life.
Children with Disabilities
We must fulfil our national commitment to provide meaningful education to our children with disabilities. NIP will fully fund the highest possible standard of education of all the children with disabilities in Nigeria up to secondary school certificate level.
We will ensure that institutions which sign up to educate our children with disabilities receive the extra resources and services they need to enable them perform to the highest possible standards.
NIP believes an appropriate educational foundation for our children with disabilities will afford them maximum opportunity to thrive and become adults who will enjoy greater opportunities and more meaningful life experiences.
OUR WOMEN
Several women’s rights movements around the world have tried to help secure equal rights for men and women, however women are still married off as children, trafficked into forced labour, or made into sex slaves in Nigeria. Many of our communities still refuse women access to education, political participation, and good paying jobs. Indeed, many are kidnapped, confined and raped as weapons of war.
In Nigeria, deaths related to diseases predominantly affecting child-brides, pregnancy and childbirth are needlessly high, however women are still prevented from making personal choices in their private lives due to some old fashioned views and laws that we have yet to let go.
Child Marriage and Related Health Issues
Many of our girls in the north between ages 12 and 17 are married, some are married off as early as age 8. Life threatening venereal diseases and maternal mortality is the norm. NIP believes that the time to change that is now. We will not sit back and let our young girls suffer inhumane treatment because of traditions, beliefs and cultures which are clearly repugnant to natural justice, equity, and good conscience.
We will work with our local communities to bring enlightenment to the areas most affected. We will endeavour to show our parents how their rights to determine the welfare of their children, end at the point the fundamental right of those children are infringed. They birthed the children, however our constitution protects those children even from they who brought them to the world.
NIP will not tolerate illegal marriages to our young children no matter the guise under which such abhorrent acts are brought. Our laws must be reformed to clearly state the prohibition of marriage for both sexes before the age of sixteen years, and for those between 16 and 18 years to only marry after proper consents are obtained – from parents or guardians as well as the children.
Equal Rights
NIP is committed to ensuring full equality for men and women in every sense. We will fight to end gender discrimination in the areas of education, employment, political participation, or any other sphere. We will combat biases across economic, political, and social life that hold women back and limit their opportunities in Nigeria. NIP will seek to ratify the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Women’s Right to Self-Determination
NIP is committed to protecting and advancing reproductive health rights for our women. We believe that women should have access to quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion provided intervention is sought within the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. Women who desire to abort older foetuses, must seek approval which they may only get where the foetuses are less than 20 weeks old and there are sufficiently good grounds for needing to end the pregnancy. In every other case, only where the life of the mother is threatened by continuation of the pregnancy.
NIP believes that reproductive health is core to women’s, men’s, and young people’s health and wellbeing, therefore family planning centres will be located in every corner of our communities however remote. While we will not impede on any woman’s access to safe and legal early abortion, we will initiate and support preventive health care measures including free contraception for women of child bearing age. Evidence based sex education and a full range of family planning services will be employed to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions in the first place.
NIP strongly and unequivocally supports every woman’s decision to have her child. We will support women who decide to have their children against all odds by ensuring safe and healthy pregnancy and childbirth. We will work to provide services during pregnancy and after the birth of the child, including adoption and social support services.
NIP is committed to creating a society where children are safe, where they can thrive physically, emotionally, educationally, and spiritually. We recognize and support the importance of civil structures that are essential to creating this for every child.
Right to Own or Inherit Property
Many of our customary laws in Nigeria still prohibit women from owning or inheriting land. This runs afoul of every woman’s constitutionally guaranteed right to own immovable property in any part of Nigeria, and our women’s constitutionally guaranteed right not to be discriminated upon due to their sex or the circumstances of their birth.
NIP will promote awareness campaigns throughout the communities which are particularly affected. We will encourage our people to view women as true equals with their male counterpart, thus grant them same treatment in issues of inheritance and property rights.
Guarding Against Harassments and Violence
NIP is committed to ending the scourge of violence against women wherever they occur. Whether they occur in our homes, on our streets, schools, within the military, at our workplaces, anywhere. We will support movements which provide law enforcement with the tools needed to combat violence against women. We will support services which look after survivors of violence, and we will increase prevention efforts in our communities and on our school campuses.
We will fight to ensure immediate disciplinary proceedings in our criminal justice courts. We will vehemently pursue just and adequate punishment to sexual assaults, including sexual assaults on our men and children wherever they occur – in our homes, schools, offices, factories, campuses, on our streets etc.
NIP believes everyone deserves a safe environment where they can thrive, not one where they will live in fear. We will therefore increase sexual violence prevention education programs that cover the issues of consent and bystander intervention in our schools and across our communities.
OUR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
NIP will abide by the words and spirit of our Constitution in all of its relations with the people. Subject to the constitutionally permitted interferences, NIP will respect every person’s right to life, right to dignity of person, right to liberty, right to fair hearing, right to private and family life, right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, right to freedom of expression, right to freedom of assembly and association, right to freedom of movement, right to freedom from discrimination, and right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria.
Safe-Guarding Our Constitutional Rights
We will revamp our courts to ensure they become many times more efficient than they are today. We will simplify the process of raising complaints, and support human rights organisations to make it easier for them to pursue redress on cases of fundamental rights abuses of interest, be they attributable to public, or private persons and bodies.
Our Disabled Persons
Our laws are mostly silent on our disabled, so they tend to face discrimination based on their disabilities, especially those living with visible disabilities.
NIP will protect and expand the right of Nigerians with disabilities. We will help them get good education, accommodations which take cognisance of their special needs. We will help integrate them into our community settings, we will contribute our quota to improve their access to meaningful and gainful employment suitable to their individual disabilities. We will provide tax reliefs to help the families caring for them, especially persons caring for those with severe disabilities.
Prohibition of Same Sex Activities
In 2013 the Jonathan Administration signed The Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, which prohibits same sex marriages and criminalises gay sex.
Nigeria and Africa at large need time to understand and accept the notion of men loving and marrying men, women doing same, and people changing their sexes from that which they were born. We have not come that far yet in this part of the world, so NIP will not support any same sex related topics.
NIP fully backs the 2013 Act to the extent that it conforms with our constitutionally enshrined fundamental rights. Same sex marriages and activities is still alien to our culture, just as it was the western communities until very recently. NIP may not tolerate, and/or preach same sex freedom for many more centuries. Until then, we support the laws prohibiting them.
RETIREMENT AND PENSION SECURITY
NIP is of the view that our retirement and pension plans in Nigeria are a sham. On the one hand, our corrupt leaders receive ridiculous incentives while in office, and much more in the name of pension when they leave. On the other hand, our teachers, nurses, military, police, all of the other professions, have to live in penury following retirement because there is no identifiable pension plan in most of our States.
NIP will revamp the entire pension system in Nigeria. We will review the system of setting pension for our public office holders. We will give our workforce the choice of joining a government pension plan, joining a private pension plan, or going with a combination of the two. Workers in Nigeria will be able to estimate their pensions depending on what age they retire so as to properly plan for old age.
NIP will ensure every pensioner who is still alive today is paid their dues – irrespective of the number of years of pension they still have outstanding.
We will ensure pensioners are paid as at when due, and we will electronically monitor the investments of our pension boards, so as to safeguard against irresponsibility. We will ensure the savings of our working class men and women are invested wisely so as to curb disappointments to our pensioners at the point of their retirement.
OUR VETERANS AND MILITARY FAMILIES
We have a moral responsibility to keep faith with all our veterans and wounded service men and women. We must take care of those who put their lives on the line to protect and defend us. Our soldiers will not come home to nothing. They will not sleep under the bridges or on the streets after their service.
We will ensure our service men and women are treated fairly when it comes to employment, health, education benefits, deployment, and reintegration after their service tours. We will push for more educational benefits and training for them in service.
We will pay their pensions and gratuities. We will ensure they receive the best possible health services in their own communities. We will be there for them the way they have never failed to be for all of us.
Military Families
NIP will honour the sacrifice of our military families. These people serve alongside our service members. We recognise the unique concerns and challenges which they face, especially after many years of continuous deployments to the worst possible conflict areas at home and abroad.
We will support military families with jobs, education, child and health care. We will promote family friendly policies and develop systems of care for our military family members, especially the spouses and children who have to rebuild their lives following the loss of a loved one, or a life-altering injury, or a disability. We see their pains, and we will join hands to help them.
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
Our 1979 and 1999 Constitutions were handed to us by outgoing Military governments, so they hardly contain the true wishes of our people.
NIP will actively pursue a complete overhaul of our constitutional law. Provisions which only stall our progress will be repealed. Those which only serve to protect the interests of the few who have lead us since independence will be repealed. And those which were genuine efforts to try and find ways to help us live together as a united country with patriotic citizens will be retained, and expanded where necessary.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORMS
NIP is committed to reforming our criminal justice system and ending incarceration without lawful trials in Nigeria. We will aim to employ one criminal code for the entire country so that anything which is a crime in the North, is also a crime in the South and vice versa.
Nigeria is one country where all its citizens are equal. What constitutes a crime in the North should constitute a crime in the South to enable uniform application and just implementation of our criminal code, especially in cross-regional crimes.
NIP believes that the time to reform and update our criminal laws is now. As society changes, so also its values and pattern of criminal activities. Crimes which were alien to our culture now exist among us, however our criminal laws have remained stagnant. For example, crimes which involve high end technology are not adequately dealt with under any of our criminal law codes.
We will push for new and updated laws in our criminal justice system, we will restructure and improve our prisons and police detention centres. We will rebuild trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve.
We will invest in training for police officers, and the creation of national guidelines for the appropriate use of force. We will work with the leadership of our police force to stop the use of arbitrary force on our people. We will encourage better police-community relations, require the use of vehicle and body cameras, and stop the arbitrary arrest and detention of our citizenry by the police and other law enforcement agencies.
We will require our courts to speedily investigate all questionable or suspicious police-involved shootings, and we will support communities who help make those investigations and prosecutions more transparent. We will support all the States of the Federation in providing funds for a system of public defence for the indigent accused persons or suspects. We will introduce a civil asset forfeiture system to enable suspects under financial crimes forfeit assets to our national coffers in return for less severe punishment for the crimes they were accused or charged.
Application of Criminal Sharia Law
The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria specifically forbids any of our governments from adopting any religion as the religion of any States in Nigeria, or the religion of our country. We have however seen States in Nigeria declare themselves Sharia States – this is unconstitutional. NIP will therefore fight for the implementation of our constitution in every part of our country.
NIP believes that our Penal Code which is applicable in the north takes cognisance of criminal sharia law. Furthermore, personal sharia law is as much a part of our constitutionally enshrined justice system as our personal customary laws. Personal sharia law also applies generally to Muslims in Nigeria irrespective of their location.
Therefore, unless and until a law is enacted in accordance with the provisions of our Constitution to inculcate criminal sharia law into the criminal justice system in Nigeria, criminal sharia law should not be used on our citizens. Criminal sharia law is simply unknown to our legal justice system.
Introduction of CCTV
NIP proposes the use of extensive intelligence and CCTV cameras to monitor criminal activities in Nigeria. Aside from helping in the fight against corruption, terrorism, violent crimes etc., it will also provide investment opportunities for several manufacturing businesses. The wide use of CCTV in Nigeria will help us fight crime, thus keep us safe. However, it will also increase national revenue, and create mass employment.
Quick Intervention of Security Agents
Jungle Justice is common among our communities. We take laws into our hands when we think a person has committed a grievous offence. We mob, we lynch, we maim to death. This is wrong and severely punishable under our extant laws.
NIP will work with our communities to imbibe the culture of calling for the intervention of our law enforcement agencies. We will use effective media and internet campaigns to broaden the scope of our people. To teach them that lynching a person for any offence no matter its gravity, is a crime for which the death penalty may be imposed. We believe that a deeper understanding of the consequences of taking the laws into our own hands will deter our people from resorting to jungle justice when provoked.
ELECTORAL REFORMS
NIP believes that the right to vote is sacred and fundamental. We believe that we must protect every Nigerian’s right to vote. We believe that we must give back control of our elections to those to whom it belongs – to the people of Nigeria.
Independent National Electoral Commission
NIP will install control mechanisms to ensure corrupt practices among our electoral officers is completely eradicated. Measures will be put in place to ensure immediate discovery, and severe punishment of INEC officials who are found lacking in the delivery of the services they are required to carry out, particularly when such failures are due to financial inducements from any quarters.
NIP will revamp INEC to ensure highly qualified men and women take over the organisation and leadership of the commission. They will be tasked with the responsibility to ensure highest standards are reached for election matters and that up to date information can be accessed round the clock on the INEC official website.
We will invest heavily in the expansion of the commission’s information technology so as to ensure Nigerians can register to vote online from whatever parts of the country they may reside. Where biometrics are to be collected, each registered voter can go to the nearest post office, or INEC office to give them such biometrics.
Our Electoral Laws
Our Constitution and our Electoral Act both provide extensive rules and guidance for the processes we are to employ in choosing the people we allow to govern us. Whereas a number of the provisions within both Acts could benefit from renewal and expansion, our courts must start interpreting the provisions we have in accordance with the intention of the parliaments which created them.
Our Courts, and Politicians Jumping from Party to Party
Our Constitution clearly makes provisions that members of the National Assembly, and the Houses of Assembly of the States who defect from the political party they rode into power with, must immediately vacate the offices they were elected into upon such defection. In other countries, politicians simply resign when their views collide with those of the political parties they belong with. In Nigeria we defect, but against the provisions of our Constitution, we carry on in the elected offices. This is wrong.
NIP notes that our courts have not upheld any case, or given an opinion which clearly enforces this constitutional requirement. As a result, we have people jumping from party to party, looking for the best party to guarantee the continuance of their illegal activities, and our esteemed Judiciary so far supported this process.
Whereas these provisions do not extend to the Governors and President, we believe that they should. Where a person identifies with the ethos of a particular party and gets the electorate voting for them under that party’s platform, it follows that in addition to the qualifications of the aspirant, the people are also voting the ideology of the party. The defecting candidate must therefore leave the seat for the party to replace with another of its member. Political parties should be trusted to find suitable replacements for seats which are vacated in the described manner.
We also note with distaste that many of our magistrates and judges blatantly ignore the true meaning and intention of the enactments within our Electoral Acts to reach abhorrent decisions which only throws the rest of us in disarray. They allow men and women who did not clearly win elections, grab power. They use our courts to install people who did not partake in elections into office. Enough of that already.
NIP will steadfastly pursue election tribunal matters which the decisions of court did not follow a logical flow with the facts or the matter and the judgement handed down. Whereas we strongly advocate for the independence of our Judiciary, we must also police the activities of our Judiciary to ensure the trust we place in their hands is not further abused.
We will push for reforms to our laws with regards to these anomalies. NIP will enshrine the import of these constitutional provisions in the day to day running of our internal affairs as a duly constituted political party.
Diaspora Voting
We believe our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora are as much a part of us as those of us who have never left the shores of Nigeria.
NIP will push for Constitutional and Electoral Act reforms which will plan for, and allow proven Nigerians in the Diaspora to vote during all general elections. The decisions we make in Nigeria affects all of us wherever we may be, our laws therefore should be all inclusive to allow those of us outside the shores of Nigeria contribute with their votes to the nation building process we envisage for Nigeria.
NATURAL RESOURCES
Nigeria is blessed with an abundance of solid and liquid minerals. We are blessed with the best climate and environmental conditions for their exploitation, yet very little is done with all these gifts of nature. We spend our energy pursuing crude oil exploitation as if nothing else could give us substantial revenue to utilize in doing substantial work for our people.
NIP will identify all our natural solid and liquid mineral resources, and develop a futuristic agenda as to their exploration and exploitation for the benefit of the entire country. Our local communities will be employed in the quest to discover and ascertain the commercial relevance and value of every mineral deposit found in Nigeria.
We will invite businesses and open up for international investments in the various types of industries which our numerous mineral deposits can provide raw materials for. This will boost our economic policies, and significantly raise the employment potentials of our country.
Oil and Gas
One of the worst things to happen to us was the discovery of oil on our soils, however it is time to turn the curse into a blessing. The unprecedented levels of corruption that independence brought about not only worsened by the discovery of crude oil, that discovery warranted the shameless institutionalisation of corruption in our polity. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (“NNPC”) instead of being the custodian and preserver of our national wealth, became the looting quarters for all ill thinking leaders Nigeria has so far had.
NIP will completely revamp the leadership of the NNPC. We will replace the old NNPC with one which is only interested in the betterment of our people no matter their regions. An NNPC which will think progressively and implement measures which ensure intelligent, environment and community sensitive exploration and exploitation of our crude oil resources.
No more directors of NNPC who are barely qualified to stand guard at our children’s schools. No more NNPC directors who were ordained by our corrupt leaders. We will put credible men and women in charge of NNPC affairs, and through them help the companies and communities where crude oil is exploited find peaceful and mutually beneficial ways of co-existing.
MADE IN NIGERIA GOODS AND SERVICES
NIP believes that the best ways to innovate, prosper, and create good-paying jobs is to produce more in Nigeria. This is why we will firmly support manufacturing in Nigeria. We will constitute a “Made in Nigeria” commission under the Trade Ministry and give it the duty of establishing thriving manufacturing communities and hubs in Nigeria.
NIP knows that goods and services in Nigeria are not produced at the highest possible standards, therefore people in and outside Nigeria are reluctant to patronise our “Made In Nigeria” goods. NIP will work with the Standards Organisation, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, and other relevant agencies to put measures together to ensure our goods and services meet internationally accepted standards. This will in turn open up more markets for our goods, and provide employment for millions of us in Nigeria.
SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES
NIP will support entrepreneurship and small business growth in our communities by providing funding through bank loans, mentoring and training to entrepreneurs and small business owners.
We will make it easier to start and grow a small business in every corner of Nigeria. By supporting small business and entrepreneurship, we can grow jobs faster in Nigeria. We will remove policies which hold back small businesses and entrepreneurs in our country. We will open up access to credit because we know that small businesses are some of the best job creators in our communities.
We will provide tax reliefs and make the taxation system simple. We will create access to international markets and link into the critical importance of small businesses as a source of opportunity for our women and youth to work and nurture entrepreneurship.
A UNIFIED EXCHANGE RATE
Currently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”) uses eleven different exchange rates. The pilgrims get a different exchange rate from customs, who get a different one from banks, or bureau de change etc. This is an anomaly and we will fix it.
NIP will have only one exchange rate and this rate will apply across all quarters. Furthermore, NIP will not spend taxpayers’ money to fund any religious pilgrimages, no matter the denomination.
Pilgrimages are a luxury that only the few wealthy people in society are able to afford. NIP therefore expects every person or group that decides to go on religious pilgrimages to fund such luxuries from their own private pockets. Our national wealth is needed to develop our people and our economy, funding religious pilgrimages is not among the issues for consideration in the equation.
NATIONAL SECURITY
NIP will protect Nigeria and Nigerians. We will work hard to stem the spate of violent crimes in our country. Cases of mobbing, armed robbery, unlawful killing, lynching, rape etc. will be handled expeditiously and those found guilty severely punished.
We will work with our security agencies to assure security of life and safety of property in Nigeria. We will invest heavily in equipment and training for our security agencies and ensure probity and accountability is restored to their leadership.
We will strengthen our military, navy, police, prison services, air force, civil defence, road safety commission and every security agency entrusted with the safety of people and property in Nigeria. CCTV will be used widely to monitor criminal activities throughout our communities so as to keep our people and our property safe.
We will deal wisely and firmly with those who seek to endanger us or our visitors and friends. We will expand and develop our armaments, provide training for our security forces and agencies, ensure they are properly remunerated, and make sure that they are each committed to keeping us safe, and together as one strong indivisible country.
NIP will stop at nothing to deter aggression, and promote peace, however we will always use diplomacy and dialogue to confront security threats so as to ensure combat is our last resort.
The Police
The notion is that the police will fare better when it is brought under the control of each State is not entirely correct. NIP believes that the reason the Nigerian Police has failed our people is very complex, but making them State controlled will not solve the problem. On the contrary, making sure each member of the police force is educated up to Secondary School level, making sure each understands the duty to protect every citizen, making sure they are all adequately remunerated, making sure they all receive comprehensive training on their duties to one another and to the rest of the country, making sure they understand that much as they are required to obey their superiors, they are also constitutionally allowed to say no – when they are instructed to commit crimes in their capacities as police officers.
NIP will improve the conditions of service for each police officer. We will undertake an upward review of their salaries and concessions. We will provide proper training and equipment, and we will install a technology based salary paying scheme for every police officer in Nigeria.
NIP will also ensure the members of the police force chosen to lead the force will be men and women of undisputed integrity who have shown outstanding service to the force and to every Nigerian in their careers.
The Army
The Nigerian Military is known and revered globally for the quality of foot soldiers we deploy for peace keeping missions. Our soldiers are considered the most gallant of all in peace keeping operations in neighbouring countries. In the fight against terrorism in Nigeria we see them give up their lives without flinching for the good of all of us. They deserve our respect, and we salute them.
NIP is however aware that our Military has been deployed against our people by those in charge of our affairs for the sole purpose of keeping us quite when we have had cause to speak. We therefore propose to look critically at the leadership of our Military, so that while we provide the necessary training and equipment to help them stay safe while they look out for us, we will ensure that only patriotic gallant officers truly united in the effort to help Nigeria grow, are allowed to control and direct our Military.
The Navy
NIP is of the view that our navy is hardly properly utilised. We will not look to build war ships right away, however our seaways need to be secure. Cases of pirates taking control of vessels which are near or on our shores deserve immediate response, so we will invest in our navy to bring it to the point where it can rapidly respond to cases of emergency on our waters. In situations of attack on, or through our seas, a prepared navy is of immense benefit for the welfare of our country.
The Airforce
We will invest in our Airforce and bring them to internationally competitive standards. Protecting our air space is an important task which is impossible in the face of low quality equipment and poorly trained personnel.
NIP will ensure our Airforce personnel receive regular up to date training so as to be able to serve when called upon to so do.
The Prison Service
Our prisons are mostly unfit for purpose. NIP proposes firstly to overhaul the entire prison service. Put men and women of integrity in charge of our prisons, review the cases of all the inmates in all the prisons in Nigeria. Demand the immediate release of all inmates who have awaited trial longer than the maximum possible term they would have served, and issue apologies to them on behalf of all of us.
We will demand immediate and speedy trial of all the others who were remanded pending a decision on their cases by all courts in whose jurisdictions their matters are being heard. Where a guilty verdict is handed down, the period of detention will be deducted from the period for which they must remain in custody. And for those who receive not guilty verdicts, apologise for the wrongs we have inflicted upon them, offer reasonable compensation and assistance to reintegrate into society without stigma.
NIP will ensure measures are put in place to rehabilitate incarcerated offenders, help them return to safe communities where they are forgiven and welcome, help them get back to appropriate work, and help them become better versions of themselves for their benefit and for the benefit of society at large.
Terrorist Groups
NIP is committed to the fight against terrorism in Nigeria. We have zero tolerance for members and propagators of al-Qaeda, or Boko Haram, or other terrorist groups and their affiliates. We will fight them, and we will prevent other groups from emerging in their place.
The recent spate of violence involving Fulani Herdsmen is serious national concern. There is no reason any of us will forcefully take control of land belonging to others for the purpose of feeding our herds, or for any other purpose for that matter. This is a breach of our constitutionally enshrined right to own land anywhere in Nigeria. There is certainly no justification for the mass killings undertaken by these Herdsmen in their bid to secure control of other people’s lands.
NIP will implement emergency measures to ensure grazing lands are proportionately and fairly allocated to our herdsmen. We will ensure such lands are thoroughly irrigated so that grass will continually grow on them to feed the millions of animals our herdsmen grow for our consumption. In the interim, livestock feeds will be moved up north for the herdsmen to acquire at highly subsidised costs, so as to enable their livestock thrive while the irrigation and allocation of the grazing lands take place. These measures will completely eradicate the need for our herdsmen to move into private lands which belong to other people for the sole purpose of taking them over for grazing.
NIP will set up intelligence agencies to monitor and quickly stop groups which plan any massacres be they Fulani Herdsmen, or whatever other names they invent in the future. NIP will improve our intelligence capacities, implement appropriate measures and safeguards to detect terrorist activities before harm is perpetrated on our people. We will connect our intelligence community, with our law enforcement and ensure they are always prepared to deal effectively with the threats immediately they arise.
Separatist Groups
Regional agitations geared towards separating Nigeria has been part of our history from amalgamation, through independence, through Military Rule and even during our young democracy. It is not new to us, and NIP sees why such movements receive the attention and support they get.
NIP is of the view that Nigeria belongs together. Any group therefore which seeks to divide us, by deliberately inciting others into violence, and deliberately causing agitation among our people for its own selfish purposes, will be dealt with appropriately.
Groups which seek to separate from Nigeria, must first and foremost ascertain they have the support of the majority of their community members. Where such can be firmly confirmed, they can bring their application to break away from Nigeria based on the people’s demand, and NIP government will listen.
NIP believes that every part of Nigeria has the right to come together and in one voice demand to separate from the rest of Nigeria.
Where it is clearly a popular choice by the people within the communities seeking to separate from Nigeria, NIP will employ appropriate measures to ensure a peaceful and properly effected separation of such groups from the rest of Nigeria.
Unwarranted sectional agitations are unnecessary, therefore will ultimately lead to combat with our forces, which are tasked to protect life and property within the shores of Nigeria.
RELIGION AND NIGERIA
Our different religions, faiths and creeds are the best part of our diversification, however we have allowed wicked men and women among us to use that difference, to perpetrate the worst forms of evil on us, and to mercilessly spill our blood.
Religious Extremism
Having listened time and time again to local and international media, our teachers, friends, family, and preachers, tell us “Jihad” means “Holy War”; those of us who are not Muslims unconsciously condemn our Muslim brothers and sisters because we think the Holy Quran encourages Jihad which to us means Holy War against all infidels – infidels being those of us who do not accept or practice Islam.
Our dictionaries tell us that Jihad is a struggle or fight against the enemies of Islam, with examples like “he declared a jihad against the infidels” to emphasise the meaning they want to convey.
NIP cannot claim a full understanding of any faith or religion, however our research showed that Jihad does not mean Holy War at all. The word is of Arabic origins and means “striving, applying oneself, struggling, persevering”. It refers to the religious duty of Muslims to maintain and spread their faith, just like the Christian equivalent – “evangelism”. Every religion desires to win more and more people to its side, however gone are the days where it was considered just to supress, maim and/or kill those who refuse to accept a particular brand(s) of faith.
NIP is of the view that the assumption that the spate of horrific terrorist activities going on globally under the guise of Islam stems indeed from the teachings of Islam. We accept that some of the evillest of mankind hide under Islamic faith to brainwash the vulnerable ones among us, and thereafter use our own brothers and sisters to perpetrate the worst possible evil on us.
We will work with our mosques and Islamic learning centres throughout Nigeria to ensure radical Muslims are ineffective in preaching their brand of Islam to the masses.
Going Forward
Whereas ancient Muslims – just like ancient Christians, used violence in their methods of evangelism, the Quran does not preach violent killings to supress other faiths, or that Muslims must maim and kill those who refuse to accept their faith. And even if anybody can find cogent arguments that it does, it is logical to expect all of us to ignore that part(s) we think tell us this, and continue with the rest which tells us to love our neighbours the same way we love ourselves – no matter the neighbour’s faith or creed.
NIP believes strongly that it is the duty of our Muslim brothers and sisters to preach the true meaning of Islam to their followers. Preachers must stop telling the world that Jihad is a system of wiping the entire universe who refuse to accept Islam.
Let us preach the true tenets of Islam – peace, love, acceptance, respect, the ethos of hard work which the founders of Islam have tried for centuries to preach. Those of us who see and accept this view, will happily join Islam. Those of us who do not, will ignore the sermons and continue in our ways. We all have a constitutional right of choice of religion, and a duty to accept and respect one another’s decisions.
NIP will promote Islamic studies free of hatred of anybody, any tribe, any religion. We will therefore come down heavily on those who refuse to let others choose the way to their own brand of God.
We will enforce compulsory primary and secondary education at all schools in the north of Nigeria, and severely punish parents who refuse to let their children go to school. We will however ensure all such schools offer the teachings of true Islam to pupils who wish to acquire such knowledge. Awards will be given to exemplary pupils who through their words and action show their understanding of Islam as a religion which preaches peace and love.
We will help establish Islamic learning centres throughout the country, so that those who want to learn about Islam can do so freely. In the same vein, NIP will encourage every other faith and religious groups to set up in any part of Nigeria they wish to. Every religious groups including: Buddhists, Jews, Jains, Traditionalists, Bahá’í, Hindus, Sikhs, Scientologists, Christians which includes; Catholics, Lutherans, Mennonites, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists, Mormons/Latter Day Saints, Seven Day Adventists, Salvation Army, Jehovah Witnesses, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Deeper Life, Mountain of Fire and all others we have seen and/or are yet to see in Nigeria – may set up at every part of Nigeria they so wish.
Provided each religion respects everybody’s constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy, therefore do not force their beliefs down the throats of those who do not want to listen; provided each faith system preaches only to those who are willing to listen and those who come to them for guidance; provided each of these religious groups preach the love of God in the form they understand, and the love of man like they love themselves no matter our ethnicities, creed, religion, or lack of belief in any of the various Gods, Nigeria will be free of religious conflicts, and we will be able to continue as one truly united country because religion has been the worst of all our divides.
We will stay different, our divergent religious views will remain with us, but we will be more accommodating of one another’s differences because we will learn to accept and respect one another despite our religious differences. With that, Nigeria will make real progress.
FOREIGN POLICY
NIP believes our foreign policies must reflect our faith and confidence in ourselves as a nation. We will therefore balance the need to only be involved when we are directly affected, with being involved even when global events do not touch or concern us.
As a result, NIP will continue to observe and implement agreements reached with previous administrations on all issues including trade agreements, peace keeping and military interventions, world peace promotion etc.
NIP will field the best of Nigeria with undisputed integrity to represent and speak for us as our Ambassadors and consular staff all over the world. The time to send the best of us to sit at the tables where world affairs are decided is now. With the right minds at the forefront of our world affairs, Nigeria will always make the right decisions in all her foreign policy issues as the need arises.
THE NIGERIAN HISTORY, ARTS & CULTURE
Go to other countries in the world, and you will find museums and art centres which have preserved their history for centuries. Come to Nigeria and you will find us destroying ancient carvings, age old symbols and emblems on our stones, uprooting and stumping our trees etc. We believe those inanimate things are responsible for the lack of progress and lack of success of the people in our communities. We do not blame laziness, lack of foresight, we blame inanimate objects, so we destroy them all.
NIP proposes to stop this trend. We will support our arts and culture establishments. We will provide support and funding for arts education, archaeology, establishment of museums, theatres, music schools etc.
We will advance for the provision of history, arts, and music lessons as core modules and full courses in our schools. The entire country will prosper when we preserve, protect and promote the unique artistic and cultural contributions of our forefathers, as well as those created by the men and women in today’s Nigeria. We will leave a legacy for our children to continue after us.
OUR ENVIRONMENT
While the rest of the world discusses climate change, bio-fuels, cleaner energy, fossils and the likes. Environmental problems in Nigeria involve open defecation in every corner you look – including big cities, importation and licensing of millions of cars and machinery which release torrents of carbon monoxide and methane into our environment, piling heaps of biological wastes on our roads, pouring all manner of toxic wastes into our waters, burying our dead in the same gardens we plant our vegetables, the list is endless.
NIP believes that in addition to advancing measures for improving our sanitation and our environment in Nigeria, a complete re-orientation of our people is required. We need to bring it home to our people that how we behave has a direct effect on our health and the health of all others around us. NIP will strive to make sanitation and environmental studies compulsory for all students from primary to tertiary institutions of learning – including those doing vocational programs. We will also use the internet, radio, television, and print media to bring it to our people’s knowledge that we all have serious work to do to help us live environmentally safe lives.
NIP proposes to engage local workers and businesses in cleaning up environmentally damaged rural and urban communities. We will increase the number of public toilets in every community while the construction of modern accommodation is on-going. We will work with recycling and waste management organisations in Nigeria and from all over the world to agree measures to thoroughly clean our country. NIP will encourage Investments in waste management and recycling and ensure that loan conditions for such companies are favourable.
For damages resulting from oil spillages, young men and women with basic education in the local communities will be trained in the skills required for cleaning such dangerous wastes. Those who pass the goal-specific independent assessment they undertake following their training will be absorbed by the cleaning companies, paid remuneration at the exact same level all other staff are paid, and insured to the same tune their counterparts are insured. These men and women will be very happy to clean their communities and will stop feeling left out by the rest of us in Nigeria.
NIP will strive to put measures in place to immediately and severely punish those who refuse to do the right thing, especially those who are determined to sabotage the good work we have set out to do. Local communities will be involved in policing for all of us, so that those who consistently damage their environment – be they individuals or companies, will be severely dealt with in accordance with extant laws.
TRANSPORTATION
Moving from one point to the next in Nigeria is a big chore. Our roads are so bad, air transportation is almost non-existent, our waterways are only useful in areas where they connect foreign vessels, our train network nearly does not exist. But Nigeria has the man power and earning potential to ensure our transportation systems work.
Road Transportation
NIP proposes to use existing road maps in Nigeria to plan a new road network for the entire country. We will take into account the needs and peculiarities of our different communities, the current and projected traffic volume in each area, and the cultural preservations of each community to determine where new roads need to be built, and how to efficiently renew all existing roads which have fallen into disrepair.
NIP will enter multiple Public-Private-Partnerships (“PPP”) with proven, renowned and completely reliable road construction companies in Nigeria and rest of the world. The rehabilitation of our old roads, and the construction of new ones in Nigeria was long overdue. The time to build safe and extensive road networks in Nigeria is now.
Air Transportation
Nigeria has several airports, but hardly any of them meet the standards we see when we travel abroad. We have had and still have many airlines, yet none of them can offer the level of services we experience when we travel abroad with foreign airlines. NIP will change this.
We will enter Build-Operate-and Transfer (“BOT”) arrangements with companies in Nigeria and all over the world who have the proven expertise to build world class airports, runways and duty free shops within the airports in record time.
We will provide strict regulatory guidelines for airlines in Nigeria to follow in dealing with passengers in situations of delays or cancellation of flights. We will raise the bar for airline operators in Nigeria, however we will also make the conditions for entry and participation in the business of safely carrying Nigerians and her visitors from place to place easier.
Railway
Railway will be the safest method of carrying commuters and cargo from place to place in Nigeria, yet we do not have a functional, not to mention a reliable railway system in Nigeria. NIP will change that.
Just like our roads and airways, we will revitalise the Nigerian railway systems. We will enter BOT agreements with companies that can design and build an enviable railway network for Nigeria. Nigerians will be able to commute from State to State in record time if they choose to remain in their local communities while they work in larger cities. Distance will not be the reason our people decline the work they really want to do.
Waterways
Water as a means of transportation in Nigeria requires urgent attention. Our seaports are in disarray, other waterways are few and far in-between, and much of the routes are completely neglected.
NIP will facilitate development of safe and comfortable water transportation systems in Nigeria by embarking on dredging projects where needed, the construction of dams, channelization and canalisation of our rivers. The riverine areas will specifically benefit from all the development and investments because both their local trades, and the inflow of tourists will ensure they are earning their keeps locally. Using the rivers and seaways, they can take people from corner to corner in their own communities as a means of livelihood. NIP will therefore create more jobs for Nigerians.
TOURISM
Nigeria is blessed with the prettiest sights, the best weather, great food, diverse culture and many more. Yet, we are not a destination of choice for people all over the globe looking to relax and enjoy their leisure time in Africa. NIP will change that. Our security issues are mostly to blame, however getting our tourist attractions and transportation systems up to date will significantly change our story.
We will work with the National Tourism Board to create a Leisure Trust Fund. This fund will help expand local, state, and national recreational centres. It will rehabilitate old parks and zoos, enhance our great outdoors from our forests and coasts to our back yards and streets. NIP is committed to quadrupling the size of our outdoor economy, and through this create hundreds of billions of naira in this new economic activity and millions of new jobs.
NIP will approach the conservation of our lands and waters in a way that reflects the diversity of our country. We will engage all of us in outdoors activities, protect our natural landscapes, waterways, oceans, everglades, lakes, and the cultural sites that tell the story of our country’s very complex history.
We will strengthen protections for our natural and cultural resources, increase access to parks and public lands by building and maintaining good roads and waterways. We will protect our local species and wildlife, and harness the immense economic and social potential of our lands and waters.
We will make our country safe and accessible both to our people and to the global economy.
TRADITIONAL RULERS
NIP has profound moral regard for our traditional rulers. Throughout our history, they have done well to preserve our cultures and traditions. Their community of governance has complemented those of our government.
NIP will therefore honour and strengthen them to the highest extent possible.
Download our Manifesto as a
- docx file here – NIP 2019 MANIFESTO
- PDF file here – NIP 2019 MANIFESTO