The much anticipated vice presidential candidates took place yesterday and it was an interesting one. The highlight of the VP’s debate was the head to head debate of the APC and PDP VP’s aspirants, Prof Yemi Osibanjo and Peter Obi former governor of Anambra State.
The Vice-Presidential debate was organised by the Broadcast Organisation of Nigeria and the Nigeria Elections Debate Group.
As stated earlier, the vice-presidential candidates debate for the 2019 general elections scheduled to take place in February, 2019, kicked off at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, on Friday. It had five candidates dropping facts and figures to buttress points and issues raised.
The women vice presidential aspirants tried a lot, they had a lot of good plans for the country. Kudos to all the women in Nigeria.
Table of Contents
The Political Parties that participated in the VP’s debate 2018 are
- Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) – Ganiyu Galadima
- Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – Peter Obi
- Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN) – Khadija Abdullahi-Iya
- All Progressives Congress (APC) – Yemi Osinbajo
- Young Progressives Party (YPP) – Umma Getso
Summary of what the candidates said at the debate
APC Candidate – Yemi Osinbajo
On the issue of subsidy, Yemi Osinbajo claimed that the cost of petrol could go as high as N220 if the Federal Government removed petroleum subsidy now, and the effect would be harsh on Nigerians.
He went further to list the number of achievements from the Muhammadu Buhari led administration. He listed infrastructure, employment, agriculture advancement.
Yemi Osibanjo also said the current government had embarked on the largest infrastructure project in the history of Nigeria, including railways between Lagos and Kano, Aladja-Warri, and the Lagos-Calabar road. The Buhari administration had a major road project in every state of the federation, he said.
Trader Moni is the largest social investment programme, taking N500 billion in every cycle.
“Under the N-Power scheme, FG are employing 500,000 graduates, who are in every single local government of the country.
On agriculture, Osinbajo stated that the government had made giant strides, especially by cutting the nation’s rice import by 90 per cent.
He also spoke of how the FG is feeding 9.2 million children everyday in 26 states of Nigeria.
PDP Candidate – Peter Obi
Mr Peter Obi, has criticized the current government’s dependence on oil subsidy. He said that the prices of things would come down if subsidy was removed.
“Why are you actually subsiding? Nigeria has one of the lowest car owner-ships in the world. It is 10 (cars) per 1,000 (citizens), he said.
“We have only two million vehicles and you’re paying almost a trillion when you have 87 million people that are poor. You can’t do that, he said. If you do the right things, the price will come down.
We can’t continue to pay for inefficiency in this country, do the right things and the price of petroleum will come down. In terrorism, we have moved from seven to three behind Iran and Afghanistan; our inequality has worsened, our misery index.
He also criticized the anti-corruption war of the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government, it has killed jobs in the process.
His point was that the war against graft shouldn’t be a government policy but a means to an end.
Peter Obi said before the current anti-graft campaign, Nigeria had more jobs and opportunities but the economy took a nosedive when the anti-corruption war started.
In 2015, unemployment was 24 percent, today it is 40 per cent. In 2015, $21bn in Foreign Direct Investment was attracted to Nigeria, but in 2017 only $12bn was gotten. GDP was $500bn in 2015 while per capita was $2, 500 today it is under $1, 900.
APC are just fighting corruption, they are not creating jobs.
You cannot shut down your shop and be chasing criminals, Peter Obi 2018.
READ- Funny Reactions of Nigerians concerning the VP Debate
ACPN Candidate – Ganiyu Galadima
Ganiyu Galadima from the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, urged Nigerians to look at the candidates and their manifestos to make informed choices at the 2019 polls.
ANN Candidate – Khadija Abdullahi-Iya
Khadija Abdullahi-Iya started the debate with her personal background information, including holding a first and masters degree in Law from the University of Abuja, and founding a non-governmental organization devoted to women and children.
She believes that all Nigerians should be concerned about the plight of children to secure the country’s future.
She further said that her decision to run for the office stemmed from her concern about “everyone of the over 2.1 million children in the North-East and IDP camps scattered across Nigeria’’.
YPP Candidate – Umma Getso
Umma Getso said she was passionate about girl-child education, she also said that she had spent the early years of her adulthood in the development of a common Nigeria.
She also said she was a pioneer member and founder of a women multi-purpose cooperative society in Bauchi State that had impacted the lives of a lot of rural women in the state.
The YPP VP went further to talk about her presidential candidate, Mr Kingsley Moghalu. She said he was a person with a lot to offer in terms of service to the nation.
“If you compare all the choices we have, you can see that Moghalu is among the best because he has experience in all sectors of the economy,’’ she said.
So there you have it, the summary of the VP debate 2018. What do you think about the candidates?
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