ND Campaign Trail 2006: Dr. Baba Jibrin Adamu, the National Secretary of the New Democrats (ND) 2007 pre-campaign assessment - Part 2

By arewa-online Correspondant, Aug 5, 2006

Dr. Baba Jibrin Adamu, the National Secretary of the New Democrats (ND) continues the Campaign Trial and ND Party Strategic Alliance Assessment by visiting the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Abuja. Dr. Adamu said that Political parties should form a pre-electoral coalition by publicly stating that they intend to form a government with each other if they receive enough votes in the up-coming 2007 elections. "By coordinating our campaigning strategies and by harmonizing our political programmes, the parties in alliance can significantly improve their chances to win as many seats as possible in the legislature. Because today, the Nigerian Senate as well as the House of Assembly need the diverse knowledge and experiences that parties in alliance will bring, thus bringing out the best for Nigeria. ND is open to discussion with any political party today that is registered in Nigeria and is willing to bring a better more prosperous Nigeria. Our Chairman Prof Isa Odidi has said that so many times, and he is a man of his words. The whole ND Executives are geared towards having a proper alliance come 2007 that will see a new shift in parties corporation and campaign activities" further said Dr. Baba Adamu

On how far has Nigeria come along, Dr Baba said that Nigeria has probably taken care of the greatest political hurdle facing it since independence by putting in place a democratically elected government. However, the time is now ripe to shift emphasis onto something equally important. To bring lasting peace, economic freedom and prosperity to its people and help tackle the long term problems posed by ethnic rivalry and tribal clashes, Nigeria needs a change of direction. But not only that. The forces of change outside Nigeria are driving the need for change within it. Therefore, to maintain itself on a par with the rest of the world, and to be able to compete successfully in the fast moving world economy, Nigeria has to radically reform itself. We are committed to changing all that. Today, most of Nigeria’s wealth and power comes from the control of physical assets - land, oil, iron and steel. But in the 21st century, this cannot continue to happen. The main source of value, economic growth and competitive advantage in the new economy is human and intellectual capital, as well as knowledge, innovation and creativity. With a population of 135 million people and highly educated Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora, Nigeria, in theory has the capacity to make a successful transition into a truly knowledge driven economy. By restructuring our infrastructure and leveraging on knowledge, innovation and creativity, we can leap forward faster that a jet-bullet.

Empowering Nigerians

In a similar discussion in the Kaduna state House of Assembly, where Dr. Baba J Adamu was given a reception and a welcome back home by some members of the House, Dr. Baba J Adamu first extend greetings from the Chairman of New Democrats Professor Isa Odidi. "Prof. Isa Odidi kindly extend his greetings to all and regrets that he could not be here due to prior engagement in the US but he is with us in spirit", and then further stressed the need to provide tools of empowerment to all Nigerians: proper education, access to basic healthcare, equal opportunity to pursue their business activities and a knowledge driven economy are paramount. He further said  that there is no disguising the phenomenal scale of work, commitment and seriousness that needs to be inputted before Nigeria can lay claim to being knowledge driven. It demands a complete change of culture and attitude. Not only that, there needs to be a new wave of collaboration and joint-working relationship between different agencies and different sectors of the economy to make it a reality. There is also need to respect our diversity and create atmosphere of mutual respect and tolerance. For this reason, it is equally unrealistic to expect things to change within a short timescale. The first step then is for the government to put in place a cohesive and coherent long-term strategy to help make the idea a reality, while addressing the short-term needs of the economy. The pre-first step ultimately is the provision of basic sustainable infrastructure like energy, water, roads and addressing security issues.

Dr. Adamu finally said that all over the world, the private sector is at the forefront of wealth creation and employment generation. So will it be in the new economy. At present, Nigeria must support and help small businesses in order to leap over poverty. As Nigeria’s main wealth creator and job generator, small businesses will form the bedrock of a knowledge driven economy. It is therefore the government’s paramount role and responsibility to enable the right macro-economic conditions to make them prosper. This then negates the current practice in the country where the government attempts to do everything by itself, including the recent announcement to create 1 million jobs, without actually making the right moves to create them. Apart from the negative effect of this on entrepreneurship and innovation, there is a stifling effect on the growth of knowledge as there is no place for a welfarist government in a knowledge driven economy. The focus then should be on helping to foster the spirit of enterprise and creativity among the people by encouraging business start-up and growth. For the man and woman on the street, this translates into the positive encouragement to turn good ideas into successful business ventures, via the provision of good business support and the enabling of the right macro-economic conditions. An important strategy will be to set up a Small Business Office (SBO) which will have responsibility for the nation-wide provision of business support activities for small businesses. New Democrats has all these ideas and we are committed to bringing them on board, that is why we encourage the government to talk to us, the other parties to talk to us, all state holders to talk to us as we are willing to talk to them to help move this dear country of ours forward, confident both at home and abroad, stronger economically with tolerance and respect within all communities.

New Democrats (ND) - www.ndnigeria.com