₦airaland Forum

As Akwa Ibom goes to the polls, we carry with us the dignity of our elders, the demands of our youth and future of our state. We have all struggled to return to the nascent days of our democracy, when for the first time, our people took the mandate to change our state and its people through the creation of the necessary structures to support trade and enterprise, challenge tribal stereotypes and uphold the sovereignty of every Akwa Ibomite and by providing them with an environment we can thrive.


We have made some mistakes the in past, and have seen those missteps manifest as a decline in education, healthcare, policy and the closeness in our communities. But this is why our democracy work; we have the tools to plumb our path and correct our mistakes. We have another opportunity to improve our situation. A vote for Nsima Obong Ekere, the APC candidate as governor of Akwa Ibom begins our new journey.


I ask that the first decision that you take in restoring our state is to come out on Saturday and exercise your civic rights. Your votes matter, each one is a slat on the bridge we must build to find our way back to prosperity.


The second decision I ask of you, is to defend our democracy. Each Akwa Ibomite is a custodian of our values, and your voice, your presence and your influence are the symbols of your office. You must use them liberally this election, speaking truth to power, serving as witness to an orderly exercise and a watchdog for corrupt agents who try to sow trouble and delegitimize our elections. Your influence online and offline might be push someone else needs to join the election exercise, make sure it counts when it matters.


Akwa Ibom is all our property. Let us not gamble with our future, the time to act is now.

Today, the Nigerian “third force” coalition dubbed: Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT) reached a consensus, naming one of their own, Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria.

The decision to choose Fela Durotoye, a popular public speaker and leadership coach as the consensus candidate of the coalition was reached through “a two-staged voting process and ended with an outcome that had Fela Durotoye score 4 votes and Kingsley Moghalu, 3 votes” according to the former Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili who observed the process.

Since the result of the election was made public a few hours ago on social media, Nigerians have taken the micro-blogging site, Twitter to express register their discontent with the outcome.

Of the 18 aspirants in the coalition, the contest boiled down to a contest between Mr Fela Durotoye and Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressive Party. Other aspirants include: Dr Thomas-Wilson Ikubese, Ahmed Buhari, Tope Fasua, and Sina Fagbenro-Byron, Eragbe Anslem,
Jaye Gaskia, Mathias Tsado, Victor Ani-Laju, Alistair Soyode, Godstime Sidney Iroabuchi, Clement Jimbo, and Elishama Ideh.

Many Nigerians on Twitter including the social media influencer ‘Mr Aye Dee’ and financial expert and radio personality, Tunji Andrews seem to think that Moghalu, a former United Nations Director who served as the Deputy Governor to Sanusi Lamido Sanusi at the Central Bank of Nigeria between 2009 and 2014, should have won the PACT’s nomination as consensus candidate.

See some reactions below:

The To Build a Nation movement wishes to deny in the strongest terms, recent online reports suggesting that Professor Kingsley Moghalu, former CBN Deputy Governor and 2019 Presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party, has been approached to drop his ambition based on the promise of a cabinet position.

No such meeting has taken place, not will it ever take place. This campaign is about the Nigerian people, so we are aware that this is a threat to the Nigeria’s current political establishment. It is no surprise, therefore, that these reports are written out of thin air.

Based on his long and distinguished career at the UN and service to Nigeria as CBN Deputy Governor, Professor Moghalu has no need to take up any job in this, or any administration, especially because of the lack of vision and competence that has seen Nigeria become the poverty capital of the world.

For the avoidance of doubt: This is a campaign to defeat both President Muhammadu Buhari and the PDP at the 2019 elections, because they represent the total failure of Nigeria’s political class to deliver broad-based economic prosperity and security to Nigerians.

Many Nigerians are tired of both parties and have agreed a third way is needed. As a result of his interactions in every geopolitical zone of the country, Kingsley Moghalu is increasingly seen as an alternative.

We will continue to take our message to Nigerians, and we ask our supporters to continue to do same. This is the last time we will respond to such baseless reports.

We truly believe that IT IS TIME.

Professor Kingsley Moghalu's speech at The Platform


I come here with a message for my countrymen and women. And my heart is both warmed over and fired up by this urgent message. So let’s get right into it. You see, we are very good at ‘managing’ as Nigerians. We have become extremely good at it.

And no one should blame us for this, to be honest. We have believed and believed so many times – and we have been disappointed. We have invested hopes and dreams in people. We have gone on strike at different times, marched on the streets at different times, shut down the nation at different times, stood in the sun to vote at different times, and we have been disappointed, sorely.

So, we have learnt to lower our expectations. We have learnt to dream in black and white. We have learnt that we don’t deserve nice things - that the things we truly want are not possible. We have tried too many times and failed too many times that we believe the problem is trying too hard. Let’s just manage the one we have.

Let’s manage the recovery of 165 girls. It is impossible to get back all 265. Let’s manage a president who is not personally corrupt, it could always have been worse. Let us take the governor that promises a few flyovers but chases poor people out of our cities as if they are not human. That’s the cost of development. Let’s pretend that 60 percent of our federal revenue doesn’t go to maintaining just 1 million people. After all they haven’t killed anybody. Let’s manage the one we have, we tell ourselves. Because we can’t really get what it is we truly want.

We are always very angry about many of their leaders. They take us for a ride, as they jump out of police vehicles to mock our justice system. They insult our youth, calling them lazy, even though they spend more time in the hospital than at their duty post. They insult our intelligence, claiming they will fight corruption, when they cannot even get visas to visit the United States because of their past crimes. We are angry at them, because they steal our agency, they steal our hopes, they steal our dreams, they still our capacity to imagine.

But you know what? These leaders laugh. And you know why they laugh? Because they know that no matter how angry we say we are, they are almost certain that nothing will change. They are sure because they know that in our hearts of hearts, we don’t truly believe that Nigeria will change. We don’t believe it. We are condemned by our conviction that this is how things will always, always be. These guys know this, and so for them the party will never stop.

When I chose to run for the highest office in Nigeria, I knew this was the primary challenge; this “manage it” attitude and sadness masked as worldly wisdom and cynicism. How do you convince people to believe the only one thing that has ever been true in the history of humanity – that there is no force more powerful than a people who have decided that enough is truly enough?

We have done it in Nigeria. We did it in 2011, when we together voted a minority president in a country where they told us it wasn’t possible. We did it in 2015 when we elected an opposition president in a country where ruling parties never lose national elections. We just have done it for people that we were ‘managing’, because we didn’t think we could get what we really deserved.

Over the past three years, and especially over the past 13 months I began to visit the entire country, to learn exactly what has caused us to allow this rot to stay, to understand exactly what it will take to galvanise fellow Nigerians to reach for what is possible. I have spent quality time talking to the people no one really talks to when they hold massive rallies with people they have paid to stand in the sun, and what I have seen has convinced me of something powerful.

And I want you to listen very carefully to what I am about to say: Nothing, absolutely nothing is stopping us from getting the exact kind of leadership we want. Nothing. We are ready, we are able, we are clear. We just don’t believe that it can happen. We just don’t believe that it is possible to get the kind of leadership we desperately need. That’s what I heard in Kano. That’s what I heard in Makurdi. That’s what I heard in Ilorin. That’s what I heard in Oron. That’s what I heard in Abeokuta. That’s what I heard in Nnewi. That’s what I heard in Ikot-Ekpene. That’s what I heard when I spoke to the young men who believe there is no hope in Nigeria, and they must follow a man who promises them freedom if only they break away from this giant disappointment. They just don’t believe that it is possible.

The Platform speaks to the core of the Nigerian elite class, and I have a message from the streets of Nigeria to you: people desperately want a leadership that can deliver results for our economy, but they want someone who can convince them that they are not wasting their time, that they are not wasting their emotions. And they want to know that they are enough of people like them across the country who will stand up to make it happen when election season comes.

Nigerians are not stupid. They know that their problem is not Christian or Muslim leaders. They know that it’s not Biafra or OPC. They know that at the end of the day all these people are together, whether they claim they are in the PDP today or in the APC tomorrow. I know this because I have spoken to them. I have listened to them, I have tried to understand why those before me have failed, and why it appears that we don’t know what we are doing.

And so, I come to you with the same message I have given to them in my steady tour of Nigeria: IT. IS. POSSIBLE. IT. CAN. HAPPEN.

We need just 10 million people who believe this. Just 10 million, from across the country who understand this. Just 10 million who are ready and willing to take the risk, to open up their hearts, to put in the work. We need just 10 million people to make a difference. Today.

That’s the job I have given myself. How do we find those Nigerians? How do we remind them that it is possible? And how do we get them to follow their hearts when election day comes? How do I get YOU to believe what I know for sure in my heart, as I stand here today – that we can disgrace those who think themselves the owners of Nigeria, the sharers of its national cake, the custodians of the limit of our possibilities?

Are we not ashamed of what we manage? Are we not ashamed of the leaders that we have? Are you billionaires not tired of a country you have to explain and defend when you meet your counterparts at the World Economic Forum? Are you young leaders not fed up with the embarrassment of your country when you explain what’s going to your correspondents on Twitter, your fellows at global conferences, your audiences at global fora?

You are. I am. And so this is my invitation to you: Join me in shocking this system. Join me in shaking it to its very roots. Join me in proving to ourselves that this thing we have been saying for decades is truly possible.

We only need 10 million people to believe with their hearts, with their votes, with their monies, with their stepping on the streets to convince others to join them and vote.

How do we do this? We start with one number. Just one. Find ONE person—a friend, your security guard, the woman who sells fruit round the corner, your work colleague—and tell them the truth about where Nigeria will be if they choose to vote against the status quo. Find one person and persuade them to be there at the polls in February 2019. Be their “polling buddy” make sure they have their voter’s card, make sure they are aware of the issues and what’s at stake. Then, help them be a “polling buddy” to somebody else.

In this country, our network is our most powerful marketing tool, so it’s time to use it to become the plus one movement. It’s simple, ladies and gentlemen, start with one. To join our 10 million movement, find us on social media via @plusonemorevote so that you can join our cell groups and our volunteer army at #Plus1MoreVote across Nigeria.

Because this is not a campaign platform, I won’t into details on the pillars of my plan for rebuilding our country. The detail on the policy plans can be found on our website www.tobuildanation.com and have also been fully and completely fleshed in my book, Build, Innovate and Grow.

That’s not my mission here today. My mission here today is to insist that you must believe that what you think impossible is in fact possible. My mission here today is to ask you to ignore those who will tell you not to waste your vote. Those who will tell you there are only two choices. To ignore those who will tell you that our electoral fate has always been decided in Abuja, Minna, Ikoyi, Dubai or Ota.

That is a lie from the pit of hell. They know what they are doing when they tell you this lie. But let me tell you the truth: the only vote that is wasted is the one that doesn’t make it into the ballot box. Every time you vote or don’t vote, you are making a choice. And the enemies of our country, they are counting on the fact that you will make a choice not to show up this year to campaign, to donate or next year to vote and get those you love to vote. Or that when you show up to vote, you will choose the familiar over the necessary.

‘They’ only get to win if they win the battle over your heart and your mind. They claim to have extensive structure that no one else can beat. I have gone round the country, I have seen those structures. Those structures are human beings. Human beings like me and you at the ward level, at the state level, at the community level. We are building an alternative structure that can beat that structure.

We need you to believe that it is time to deliver Nigeria from dinosaucracy – a politics of dinosaurs, for dinosaurs, by dinosaurs. These dinosaurs have infected Nigerian society with ideas and attitudes that have long since been discredited.

Our choice as a people is stark today as it ever has been: we have a choice between dinosaurs and deliverance. If we continue to be led by these dinosaurs and the people they endorse, the sunlight of our hopes for Nigeria will continue to be blotted out by dark clouds of incompetence, corruption, economic illiteracy and primitive tribalism.

It is time for all of you who are tired, like I am tired. It is time to make things happen. Time to pump fresh ideas into solving our problems. It is time to drive the point home that Nigeria is nothing without the people—and the people need to come first from now on.

It is time to shake the table of Nigeria’s current political class. It is time for us to get off the side lines and come together as one to change the course of this nation. There is no need staying in different camps if we can come together to shake up this system. If you are not one of those benefiting directly from this nyama-nyama version of Nigeria, then it is safe to say you are of those who future is being mortgaged.

Our time has finally come. Let us shock these dinosaurs with our resolve, and our collective capacity. Let us take Nigeria back from those who believe that it belongs to them and their children. Let us be proud of Nigeria once and for all. And you better stop telling yourself that it cannot be done. God bless Nigeria. Let’s get to work!

Presidential candidate and Founder, Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation, has responded to the speech by President Muhammadu Buhari at the CommonWealth Business Forum.

See tweets below.

Presidential candidate and former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria has reiterated the need for a paradigm shift in Nigerian politics, stating that based on an objective assessment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s failed performance, he does not deserve to be re-elected by Nigerians for a second term.

Speaking in a statement after a confirmation of the current president’s intention to contest for office again, the Founder, Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation, affirmed that although President Buhari had the unalienable right to run if he wishes, he should be judged on his record.

“Nigeria has the highest number of poor people in the world, with 15% inflation and 1% GDP growth due to economic mismanagement. We deserve a very different kind of effective and inclusive leadership that can unite the country and reverse the poverty that has made our country the poverty capital of the world with the highest numbers of absolutely poor people of any country,” said Professor Moghalu.

The candidate, who is currently in the United States for series of townhall meetings with Nigerians in Diaspora, emphasised that the current administration’s record was a dubious "achievement" on which to be seeking a second term in office.

“In contrast with that record of increasing poverty and insecurity in our country, I offer my vision of something new, bold and different. I offer a new kind of competent, inclusive and effective leadership that will truly usher Nigeria into the 21st century and build a better future for our children and youth,” he said.

The former UN diplomat recently announced his intention to run for president at the 2019 elections, consistently stating that the choice facing Nigeria in the 2019 presidential election is one between progress and retrogression, scary poverty and the prospect of prosperity for millions of citizens and not just the elite few, between freedom and continuing false imprisonment by the political elite.

President Muhammadu Buhari has every right to seek a second term in office if his political party nominates him. It will be up to Nigerians to judge his performance track record so far.

In contrast with that record of increasing poverty and insecurity in our country I offer my vision of something new, bold and different. I offer a new kind of competent, inclusive and effective leadership that will truly usher Nigeria into the 21st century and build a better future for our children and youth.

If elected President of Nigeria in 2019, I will lead a government that will unite Nigeria and build a stable and secure nation, reverse extreme poverty and high unemployment with effective economic management, and restore Nigeria’s standing in the world.

My government will establish a productive innovation-led economy that reduces dependence on oil revenues, establish a public-private venture capital fund with a minimum capital of N500 billion (with private sector co-investment to fund could attain a size of N1 trillion) to create jobs by investing in new businesses by unemployed youth, reform the Nigerian Police Force by recruiting, training and equipping a minimum of 1.5 million persons with improved remuneration to create safe and secure communities, empower women with a 50:50 gender parity policy in political appointments, and initiate a constitutional restructuring of Nigeria to restore true federalism for stability and prosperity.

For more details of my Build, Innovate and Grow (BIG) Vision for our country, please visit www.tobuildanation.com.

THE choice that faces Nigeria in the 2019 presidential election is one between progress and retrogression, between scary poverty and the prospect of prosperity for millions of our citizens and not just the elite few, between our freedom and our continuing false imprisonment by the political elite that have brought us to our present sorry pass. I want to lead our country as its president because I have a BIG vision for the future of our children and youth. On current trends of what passes for governance in Nigeria and despite our dynamism and resourcefulness as a people, that future is a bleak one.

Except, of course, something radically new, different and bold happens in our politics and leadership selection process. Millions of our countrymen and women share my vision. That vision represents the opportunity to move our country in a new and different direction from the inevitable limitations of our recycled and failed politicians. It is time.

Nigeria is now the poverty capital of the world. According to the World Poverty Clock we overtook India in February as the country with the greatest numbers of people who live in extreme poverty. India has a population six times the size of Nigeria’s. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has noted that poverty is increasing in our country and that our economic policy is “muddled”. We remain the world’s greatest importer of Premium Motor Spirit (refined petroleum) while we export crude oil. How else shall we define madness?

Because of incompetent leadership, our government insists on controlling and subsidizing the importation and pricing of PMS. Instead of deregulating the downstream petroleum industry, Nigerians sleep at fuel stations as a result of artificial scarcity whenever this scam is threatened. This has gone on for 40 years. We should be ashamed of ourselves when we elect and re-elect into office politicians whose failed leadership is directly responsible for our poverty. Meanwhile, poverty and unemployment know no tribe or religion. They are “federal character” realities that are widespread across our country.

We need a paradigm shift. It is time. A healthy debate has ensued since I formally offered myself to serve our country by leading it towards a very different and better future. That debate is about the possibilities for the victory of a “non-politician” and about the “inevitability” of our career politicians and their financial and political behemoth structures as represented by the ruling APC party and the PDP. Nigerians have become a conquered people, their dynamism and potential neutralized by politicians adept at obtaining power for its own sake but inept at governance and economic management. These politicians have intimidated us into believing TINA

(There is No Alternative) to them. Not true. We are now awake. The ground is shifting. It is time. Let me be clear: we (that is, the movement of those that want a better and different Nigeria to which I belong) intend to win the 2019 presidential election. True, we should not and cannot discountenance the obstacles. But we will execute a winning strategy and ground game across the country with discipline and determination. I will announce in the coming weeks the party platform on which I intend to contest the elections. We should now elect in Nigeria leaders with a vision, character, and the intellectual and technocratic competence required to confront our myriad problems of nation-building, poverty and insecurity.

My vision stands on a tripod: *First, to heal our country and build a nation; *Second, to wage a decisive war against poverty and unemployment, and; *Third, to restore Nigeria’s standing in the world. I have offered myself for the task at hand because I have a passion for my country’s progress and because I believe I have been well prepared for that task by the level, quantum and quality of my leadership experience.

From nation-building around the world to economic management at home , from international diplomacy to the global academia, I have demonstrated a track record of creating superior value. Some have questioned my not having the “credential” of being mired before now in the sleaze that passes for politics in Nigeria. That mindset is exactly the problem: we have too many politicians but very few real leaders. We are all politics and no leadership. This is precisely why we are a poor and dysfunctional country. We must overcome our problems of poverty in a structural manner that moves millions of our poor and unemployed citizens into the middle class over the next decade. This requires a certain type of mindset, intellectual capability and philosophical insight, and the ability to assemble a competent team in the government. Combined with the discipline of execution, we will find that the ability to address Nigeria’s problems is not exactly rocket science. Our nation cannot be built by ethno-religious irredentists who live in the past and whose instincts are based on extremely narrow worldviews. As President of Nigeria,

I will provide inclusive leadership that is anchored on a Big Hairy Audacious Goal that unites us all to face the future. We are aware of the retrogressive thinking and talk about “zoning” — the ethnic turn-by-turn that has hitherto influenced who becomes president. After nearly two decades of democracy since 1999, the report card on the outcomes of this unconstitutional practice that fosters mediocrity is simple: our citizens have gotten poorer and poverty is increasing.

As Seun Opaleye, a young Nigerian commented recently on social media, “we have zoned 2019 to competence”. Those who wish to dwell in the past may do so. The world is moving on and, like it or not, Nigeria will move with it. We who seek a better future for our children and youth are having none of the retrogression and mediocrity of “zoning”. In any case it is practiced inside just one or two political parties. Our population in the New Tribe who are focused on citizenship rather than ethnic tribe and tongue is increasing because a new generation of adults is coming of age. Thus, I am not and will never be an ethnic candidate for the presidency of our country.

I am unapologetically a Nigerian candidate for the Nigerian presidency. We must create a rising tide that lifts all boats, not just those of relatives and tribesmen and women. A Kingsley Moghalu presidency would be very different from those before it. At a fundamental level, this is because we would bring a problem solving mindset to it. We will consciously govern with strategy, a worldview that we will inculcate in our citizens through the educational system and other channels, and a clear understanding and application of the requirements of good governance.

These include effectiveness, accountability, transparency and inclusiveness. We will be ready on Day One, with the most senior appointments and nominations in the executive branch announced within 48 hours. National security policy We will secure Nigeria with the effective implementation of national security policy including reforming the police force to become a real one that can guarantee law and order and safe communities. We will do this through massive increases in the police force strength and real training. I have the political will that is presently absent to ensure the effective control of Nigeria’s porous borders with Niger, Chad and Cameroon, a situation that has compromised our national security. We will ranch the herdsmen and address the root causes of the herdsmen crisis, which includes amongst other factors the desertification of northern Nigeria. A government that I lead will implement the National Youth Policy and the National Gender Policy effectively.

This will ensure that we go beyond tokenism in empowering these two substantial parts of our population. Women make up 51 per cent of our population of 186 million people, and there are 60 million youth aged between 18 and 35. Both groups will play a muscular role in my government. We will implement a 50:50 gender parity ratio in political appointments, well above the National Gender Policy recommendation of 30 per cent for women. Competent youth with relevant qualifications and experience will play important leadership roles in the government, ensuring the much-needed inter-generational change of baton in leadership without which any society will enter decline. Economic vision, talents and youth Our economic vision of an innovation-driven economy will tap into the talents of our youth.

This will create the wealth of nations for Nigeria and shield us from the debilitating boom and bust cycles of an economy on fiscal life support from income from natural resources. We will create an environment for the private sector to create jobs with a public-private partnership venture capital fund of a minimum capital of N500 billion that will invest in new, job-creating start-up businesses to be established by millions of unemployed Nigerians.

Our program of economic rebirth will decentralize the national grid and shift power generation towards renewable energy sources. We will undertake a fundamental reform of our healthcare and education systems. The Nigerian Diaspora will play a central, institutionalized role in the building of our human capital. We will commence a consultative process in collaboration with the National Assembly and State Assemblies to achieve a constitutional restructuring of Nigeria back to true federalism for stability and prosperity within two years of my taking office. No one says all of this will be easy or will happen in a matter of days or a few weeks. I do not claim to be a magician with a wand or a perfect person.

But, like many other Nigerians, I love my country. I care about the daily suffering of our countrymen and women, and the future of our youth, our children, and even the unborn. Together, we all can work to create a better future for us all. It is time.

Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, is a presidential aspirant for the 2019 elections and the author of the new book Build, Innovate and Grow: My Vision for our Country (Bookcraft, 2018).

With love for our country and a fierce commitment to a vision of rapid progress for our more than 180 million citizens, and following wide-ranging consultations, I offer myself to serve you as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as from May 29, 2019. I therefore intend to be a candidate in the 2019 presidential election. I seek the opportunity to offer our country visionary, purposeful, competent leadership to build our future.

Nearly 60 years ago, our Founding Fathers Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo envisioned a great country that would take its pride of place in the world based on the talents of its citizens and a constitutional federation that would ensure justice, equity, and economic productivity.

Their vision and hopes have yet to materialize—military rule, oil booms and busts, and the successive leadership failures of our civilian political class have combined to rob us of what seemed our destiny at independence.

I am standing here today saying that it is time we shatter the downward spiral to nowhere.

I am here today, standing with the 110 missing girls of Dapchi and their grieving family, and with the traumatized young women of Chibok, those with us and those still in captivity.

I am here today standing with 180 million Nigerians, in addition to thousands of businesses struggling to share a measly 4000MW of electricity.

I am here today standing with the 100 million Nigerians experiencing crushing poverty, living on less than 300 naira a day.

I am here today because 33 million of our able men and women are unemployed or underemployed, nearly 15 million children are out of school, and only 60% of Nigerians are literate.

I am here today because our hospitals are understaffed and mismanaged death traps, and women are still subject to horrific prejudices and devastating early marriages.

I am taking this stand, here and now, because Nigeria today is divided by ethnic and religious conflicts, made worse by corruption. The government has failed in its very first duty of securing our lives as citizens, and we have lost our place in the world. The time has come for us to fix this.

We are collectively exhausted by these politicians who continually fall in and out of alliances with each other and care nothing for the ordinary Nigerian. They aggravate our fears in the hope that we will continue to keep them in power even though offer nothing new.

IT IS TIME for a radical change in the political leadership of Nigeria.

IT IS TIME for a visionary, competent and inclusive leadership that truly cares about our country.

IT IS TIME for a leadership equipped with the skills, intellect and competence to wage a decisive war against poverty and unemployment.

IT IS TIME for a Nigeria in which our youth can fulfill their full potential and our daughters can aspire to any opportunity they desire.

IT IS TIME for a 21st century leader to lead us into a new and different future.

What we need now is a REAL movement of the people, by the people and, most importantly FOR the people of Nigeria to move our country forward and break with our troubled past. I offer myself as part of that movement.

We are a nation of great people; as seen by the way Nigerians abroad are thriving. We hear the stories of those who leave home with little more than a hope and a prayer, change the world abroad.

Nigerians have smarts, ingenuity, drive, relentlessness, vision, and sheer force of will. We must be able to harness our strengths and make them work for us here at home.

My fellow Nigerians, to quote the immortal words of the late US president John F. Kennedy, “politics is too important to be left to the politicians.”
We must ask our government hard questions about the promises they made about our security, about power, about civil aviation, about healthcare, about women’s rights.

The world is changing: time and tide have in several countries swept away old orders and brought in new, more dynamic ones. Nigeria must not remain stuck in its past. We, you and I, can do it for our country too.

We need to modernize, and quickly. For instance, we know that women in leadership and in government can accelerate growth for any economy, yet only 6% of our legislature are women. There are many, many competent, smart women who are more than ready to dig in and work together to rescue this country. We must draw them out and ensure that their voices are heard.

We must stop recycling failed politicians and regenerate our leadership ranks with competent and experienced young men or women. Youth who have prepared themselves with the relevant qualifications must take over the mantle of leadership because this struggle is about the future of Nigeria, not its past.

The battle to reorient Nigeria into a strong, capable country requires competence, capacity, and character. And as a citizen who aspires to be President I possess all three.

If it is about competence: my work as a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria who played a leadership role in rescuing and stabilizing the Nigerian banking system after the global financial crisis speaks for itself.

If it is about capacity, my work in the United Nations reconstructing countries torn by civil war or reforming the internal workings of the world body is there for everyone to see.

If it is about character, well, talk to my colleagues, mentors, friends, and of course my family and listen to what they have to say. Strong, knowledgeable guidance is needed as Nigeria navigates these difficult waters, and I offer myself for service with a solid track record of leadership.

I’m not here to tell you that there are quick, easy solutions to our nation’s problems. Far from it. Decades of economic and leadership mismanagement cannot be undone in a few short weeks or months. Things will be difficult and painful choices will have to be collectively made.

What I am here to tell you is that:

TOGETHER, we can choose a NEW path.

TOGETHER, we can set a BOLD agenda.

TOGETHER, we can deliver for ourselves a DIFFERENT outcome.

Nigeria will achieve greatness.

I have not announced today the party platform on which I intend to contest for the presidency. My focus for now is the people of Nigeria and not on party platforms that have in the past been mere vehicles for capturing political power.

While I have been approached by a number of political parties, the movement that I am part of will decide which one we will join. That decision will be based on commonality of vision and the IMPERATIVE of a generational shift in leadership, and we will announce this decision in the coming weeks.

Based on such a decision, we shall seek to build a formidable coalition of parties for the presidential election that together will represent a clear and credible alternative to the failed political leadership class that has enthroned corruption and incompetence in the governance of our country.

It is important that we begin to focus more closely on the individuals seeking elective office in our country and their qualifications in terms of character, competence, capacity, and track record.

We have traditionally focused of platforms and structures that, though a necessary part of the democratic process, in our national experience have mainly delivered the wrong candidates. Naturally, those candidates have gone on to be failed leaders. It is good candidates that will create credible political parties. Visionless parties cannot produce the best candidates.

THE POLICY AGENDA

My vision for our country is set out in my new book BIG (Build, Innovate, Grow) which was released two days ago. In summary, however, the agenda of a government under my leadership includes the following:
Leadership and Governance

• Compose a world-class, “first eleven” team based on merit and inclusive governance to drive government policy. We will be ready on Day One. The appointment of all senior officials of the Presidency will be announced within 48 hours. My government will enthrone evidence-based public policy, strategy and risk management as tools of effective and modern governance.

• Establish and propagate through the educational system a foundational philosophical worldview for the Nigerian state, around which all Nigerians will unite in a common purpose

Nation-building

• Lead a consultative political process, in cooperation with the National Assembly, to achieve a constitutional restructuring of Nigeria and return our country to true federalism for stability and prosperity by 2021.

• Implement a 50:50 gender parity policy in all political appointments – nearly double the ratio recommended by the National Gender Policy of 2008.

• Establish and implement a Diaspora engagement and return policy and strategy as a new, fundamental component of our national quest for development as has been the case in China, India and Israel. My government will build the Diaspora Commission approved by the National Assembly into an effective, world-class institution to accomplish this important agenda.

• Fundamental overhaul of the Nigerian Police Force that will emphasize training, equipment, and boosting the strength of the Force by recruiting at least 1.5 million policemen and women, up from the grossly inadequate present force strength of 350,000.
Economy

• Establish an innovation-led economy, with intellectual property and commercialization of local innovation as its bedrock.

• Establish a Venture Capital Fund with a minimum of N500 billion as a public-private partnership to invest in the creation of new businesses by presently unemployed youth in Nigeria; the new businesses created with support from this fund will in turn create new jobs. The fund will be managed by private sector partners while the Federal Government of Nigeria will be a core investor.

• Reform energy policy to create an enabling environment for Nigerian households to be powered by renewable energy while industrial zones are served by gas and hydro-powered energy.

• Fundamental reform of Nigeria’s healthcare system to assure quality healthcare for Nigerian citizens and remove the need for medical tourism abroad. Healthcare will have 15 per cent of Nigeria’s budget in line with the Abuja Declaration of the African Union in 2001. A world-class hospital will be established in each of the six geopolitical zones at a federal university teaching hospital.

• Fundamental reform of Nigeria’s education system to create skills and human capital that will drive Nigeria’s industrialization and job creation. Education will be allocated 20 per cent of the federal government budget, with a progressive increase to 30 per cent over eight years.

CONCLUSION

I am here today because I want what is best for my country.

We have no godfathers. We are just ordinary Nigerians who want a future that is very different from the sad reality of broken promises and unfulfilled national potential that has been the lot of the Nigerian people for far too long.

But we know that, with your support we can bring about real progress in our country. To accomplish this, however, every citizen aged 18 years and above must obtain his or her Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and vote in the 2019 elections.

Fellow Nigerians, this movement of the people, the REAL coalition of everyone and not a select few, belongs to you. Because it truly belongs to you, it will be accountable to you, the people. For this reason, we need to crowdsource our intellect and resources to move this country forward.
To support the movement, go to www.tobuildanation.com

We must refuse to allow the political elite to continue to intimidate us with the idea that no one can displace them. They boast they will outspend us and more.

But we say to them: Nigerians will not be taken for a ride yet again. The time to sit on the fence is past, ladies and gentlemen.
I’d like to end my speech by thanking my family. My lovely and ever supportive wife, who always challenges me to be the best man I can be.

Thank you, dearest. To my sons and daughter, continue to be the amazing, talented people you are. I am so proud of you.

Nigeria, we can do this. Let’s get to work!

The pros outweigh the cons? Have you ever fought in Ajah traffic? Do you see the way people argue in football houses? Let's admit - we are already crazy in this country. Now you want to put guns in our hands.

Instead of arguing for gun rights (please note the USA), why don't we all ask for law enforcement reform? We already started with #EndSars! We can make police reform an issue in 2019.

nabiz:
supported. as far as i have my ak47 you can even scrape police i don't need their service

Here is food for thought as the excitement of the New Year fades: as Nigerians, we are always on the lookout for a political messiah to sweep aside corruption and transform our country. It’s time to get real and realise that there is no one saviour to deliver us from petrol queues, lack of jobs, poor educational standards, or low pay. Nigeria’s problems are decades in the making… and it needs both radical thinking and systematic, steady endeavour to turn things around.

Time and time again, we elect men and women who do not have our collective interests at heart. The truth is, that we own the corruption and the ineptitude of our elected officials. We can’t just sit aside, not vote and then call those who voted (even if it was for a bad candidate) fools/foolish. If we want more for ourselves, more for our future, we must be tough and vote for substance even if the candidate tells us an uncomfortable truth. True leadership is not about being popular—it’s about doing the right thing in the face of massive opposition against our efforts to shape the future.

Nigeria's tough times have created a "nation of me", and what we need is a "nation of we"—and that means that moving Nigeria forward begins with us. It rests on our hard work and capability to start something new, something radical. It begins with accepting that the process will be painful, messy and unpleasant for most. It also requires governments and institutions willing to work for the people.

For young Nigerians, political involvement is the quickest, most effective way to create the momentum you seek for the country. Register to vote, keep your eyes and ears open, and pay attention to the substance of the issues before you. That is the only way to make a difference.

We have this small window of time to create the conditions necessary for rapid progress. 2018 is a crucial milestone for our country; we must start making smart choices.

* Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, USA, is the President of the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation based in Abuja.

All these old men sha! And why does he keep saying 3,000 instead of the 209 on the list.

Even if it is 3,000, how many civil servants work in the Presidency - 500? 600?

So these people could not make calls to notify the members that the announcements were going to be made? We are not asking Buhari or Osinbajo to make the calls na!

How do you appoint people to a board, and they are not even made aware of it? What is wrong with this country? And Sagay is supposed to be educated?

And he said that he was disappointed that the government apologised. Imagine if the government was a company headed by Buhari, with Sagay as an executive - would he advise the company not to issue an apology to his customers/clients after such display of incompetence?

It completely shows the disrespect for citizens by public officials in this country.

This is total nonsense!

If Atiku (or anybody the PDP presents as a presidential candidate) is the only alternative to Buhari, then Buhari’s victory in 2019 will be a definite shoo-in, and that’s terrible for the future of Nigeria. As a political party, PDP is a hopelessly damaged brand. It’s too soon to forget the agonizing blight that the party inflicted on Nigeria. However one tries, it’s hard to get past the insufferable arrogance, insensitivity, and impunity of the henchmen of PDP. To be sure, APC (which is actually old PDP in a new bottle) is continuing where PDP stopped. In fact, APC is a crueler, less transparent, and more sinister monster than its older PDP brother. That’s why presenting Nigerians with a choice between PDP and APC is a cruel Hobson’s choice; it’s like a choice between six and half a dozen, between evil and evil. Any selection or deflection would be a distinction without a difference.

Like Buhari, Atiku has no new ideas, is barely educated, is deeply invested in the same retrograde politics of patronage that has held us back, disdains the poor (recall his boast about how his private secondary school students speak better English than UniZik students who are products of public schools?), and is a classic flip-flopper. When he wants to wrest power from southern politicians, he is a closed-minded northern chauvinist, but when his opponent is a northerner, he suddenly transmutes into an exhibitionistic nationalist, playing to the (southern) gallery. It reminds one of Buhari’s theatrical and faux nationalism in 2015 that saw him donning the symbolic ethnic attires of numerous Nigerian ethnicities, even going so far as to attend church functions, but we all know what he has turned out to be.

But why hasn’t any transformational, forward-thinking, truly educated, and energetic non-career politician emerged yet as a presidential contender? Why is our country’s fate perpetually left in the hands of insouciant, doddering, uninspiring, incompetent, and provincial gerontocrats who have no earthly clue what it takes to govern a modern, multi-ethnic nation?

As it stands now, if fractured and feuding PDP is the only alternative to Buhari’s APC, I can bet the farm that Buhari’s second term would be a blowout. I hope I am wrong because I doubt that Nigeria can survive 4 more years of Buhari’s dreadful ineptitude. This is the time for a fresh, viable third force to emerge. I have no idea who that would be, but I know it wouldn’t be the usual suspects; it must not be from the same cast of cancerous characters that have held sway in our polity these past 18 years.