The African Action Congress (AAC) presidential hopeful Omoyele Sowore has said that the time has come in Nigeria when a graduate should be able to secure a job immediately after obtaining a university degree.
He made the declaration on Thursday while addressing a mammoth crowd of supporters who came to receive him at the Murtala Mohammad International Airport (MMI), Ikeja Lagos. The followers came in droves to welcome Sowore at an occasion that was also the official commencement of a series of rallies in the run-up to the presidential election, come February next year.
On the day party jingles and other campaign materials were released, it was said the mega rally would tour 100 cities across Nigeria with town hall meetings and other grassroots mobilisation strategies.
Sowore restated at the event the clear agenda of his party, announcing that it was about time to send the old-guard politicians on compulsory retirement and make jobs available for the teeming number of graduates upon leaving schools.
“It is time to graduate in this country and find a job not through N-power but in NNPC, Central Bank of Nigeria,” Sowore began, “Those jobs should not be reserved for the children of politicians while Tradermoni is reserved for your mothers and brothers.”
In the concise message, Sowore, who had returned from a trip to the United States of America, succinctly reeled out the party statement of intents while emphasising it was about time to take back the country from the present crop of leaders who have proved deficient in all spheres.
“We are going to take this country from those who have destroyed Nigeria,” He declared.
“Today is the beginning of our own official campaign on our way to the presidential villa, next year. As we know, Nigerians are tired of the same old set of people that play politics of bitterness. As a revolutionary movement and a political party, we are determined to take this country from those who have destroyed Nigeria and give it back to people who are ready to make a success of the future of Nigeria.
“Greatest Nigerian people! It is not by accident, that people who are leading our movement, the broadline of our movement, the action-oriented people who are here today are the young people of Nigeria and they are the young people who have been left behind by the legacy political parties, whether they are PDP or APC, we are putting an end to their reign come next year,” Sowore said.
Speaking further, he announced it was time to change the baton of leadership and opt for a visionary like himself, who has better understanding and a practical approach to the Nigerian ailments rather than the continued experimentation with those that have failed over and over again.
“We cannot continue to love people who fail Nigeria with social political promotions,” he said, “we cannot continue to love people who are sick, people who are tired, people who have run out of ideas, to continue to manage our lives for another four years. Some people have said maybe we should go and wait for another four years, I am sorry, we don’t have four years. In fact, we should have done this four years ago, and by now, we should have been talking about second tenure. Since we didn’t do so last time, now is the time to retire Buhari back to Daura. Now is the time to retire Atiku who is supposed to be a retired custom officer. It is time for him to go back to his village as well”.
Speaking on the high rate of unemployment in the country, especially amongst the youths, Sowore assured of his plans which are incomparable to whatever caricature employment scheme that has been on ground.
“Now is your time to get employed in this country not through N-power or Tradermoni but a social security system that gives you your own wealth. It is the time for workers of Nigeria to earn a living wage and not peanut salary,” he asserted.
“Last week, they were even struggling to pay thirty thousand naira as minimum wage. You can imagine, the people who are saying they cannot pay thirty thousand naira minimum wage are the people earning 14 million naira per annum. If you earn thirty thousand naira per month, you would need to work for thirty five years before you can earn 14 million naira”.
The energetic Sowore also talked about accessibility to quality healthcare system that would put an end to extravagant medical tourism, which has become the order of the day in this dispensation saying “it is time to be sick and get doctors to treat us here in Nigerian hospitals, not for you to be given Kekenapep as ambulance whereas, our leaders are flying air ambulances”,
The rally is expected to progress to other parts of the country from north to south with the party optimistic its flagbearers would emerge victorious in the coming polls.