Manifesto: Tinubu Re-Echoes Buhari’s 2015, 2019 Campaign Promises

On Friday 21st October 2022, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, released his ‘Renewed Hope’ campaign manifesto for the 2023 presidential election, promising to create jobs, strengthen the naira, expand public infrastructure among other things.

However, checks have shown that Tinubu’s 2023 campaign promises are no different in principle from what his party, the APC, promised Nigerians in the run-up to the 2015 and 2019 elections.

A comparative analysis of the APC campaign manifesto for the 2015, 2019 and 2023 presidential elections by THE WHISTLER shows a repetition of ideas in key thematic areas albeit with slight changes.

JOB CREATION

In 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari, then APC flagbearer, promised in his ‘Agenda for Change’ manifesto to create 3 million jobs per year through a social interventionist vehicle. This promise was restated in his 2019 ‘Next Level’ manifesto where he promised to engage one million graduates and skill-up 10 million people through the N-Power scheme.

Tinubu appears to follow the same route with his adoption of the National Social Investment Program (N-SIP) as a means of job creation.

Programmes like the N-Power provide paid employment for eligible persons for no more than 2 years, after which beneficiaries are left to fend for themselves. So far, it does not appear to be efficient under the Buhari administration and Tinubu seems to want to continue on this path.

SOCIAL INTERVENTION

The social intervention programmes promised by the APC in 2015 and 2019 include the provision of loans to petty traders through the TraderMoni and MarketMoni schemes, the party also promised to feed school children through the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) while helping indigent households with Conditional Cash Transfer.

The current APC manifesto of Tinubu also seeks to “provide conditional income support to very poor households,” and expand the Buhari administration’s National Social Investment Programmes including the Government Enterprise and Empowerment (GEEP)and National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP).

EDUCATION

In 2015, Buhari promised to revolutionize Nigeria’s education sector by reintroducing technical and vocational education into the national curriculum, this was again promised in 2019 with the addition of further training for teachers to deliver digital literacy.

The Buhari government has however, failed to keep this promise.

Similarly, Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope’ manifesto seeks to improve the curriculum and retrain teachers as well. Like Buhari, the former Lagos governor also wants to “reform technical and vocational learning institutions to stimulate Nigeria’s natural entrepreneurial spirit and empower more individuals toward self-reliance.

ECONOMY

On the economic front, the Buhari government had promised in 2015 and 2019 to make Nigeria “one of the fastest-growing emerging economies in the world with a real GDP growth averaging 10% annually” while strengthening the naira.

While Buhari has failed to deliver on these promises as the economy took a downward turn under his watch, Tinubu is promising to enact economic policies that will guarantee a stronger, more stable Naira founded upon a vibrant and productive real economy. Buhari had also promised to stabilize the naira in 2015.

Unlike Buhari, Tinubu did not put a figure to his projected GDP growth, but the APC candidate is promising a rapid acceleration of Nigeria’s GDP growth

HEALTH

In 2015 and 2019, Buhari promised to improve health insurance coverage for Nigerians irrespective of their social status.

More than seven years after, the APC is still promising to “expand public sector driven mandatory health insurance coverage for Nigerians.”

The Tinubu manifesto also seeks to improve health infrastructure and reduce high maternal and infant mortality, a promise made by Buhari in 2015 and 2019.

SECURITY

Like Buhari, the current APC flagbearer is promising to fight terror, banditry, kidnapping and violent agitation.

Tinubu is promising to recruit, train and better equip the military, police, paramilitary and intelligence personnel, a promise made verbatim by Buhari in his 2015 campaign manifesto.

Buhari’s police reform plan to position the force to better deliver on its primary duties of community policing and maintaining law and order through crime fighting and prevention is repeated by Tinubu.

INFRASTRUCTURE

In the area of infrastructure, Tinubu’s campaign manifesto promises to complete the Lagos – Kano; Benin – Abakaliki; Port Harcourt – Maiduguiri; Lagos – Calabar; and Kano – Maradi rail lines.

However, Buhari had also promised to complete the Lagos – Calabar, Lagos – Kano and the Port Harcourt – Maiduguri rail lines.

Buhari’s campaign for a National airline carrier is repeated by Tinubu, while both APC candidates also promised to decongest the Apapa Port and encourage greater use of other major seaports in the country.