- As group picks N100m forms for Emefiele
Tunde Joshua, Abuja
Minister of Science, and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has said that if he emerges as President of Nigeria in 2023, he will unlock the prosperity of the country leveraging on the power of science, technology and innovation.
He pledged his readiness to evolve a knowledge-driven economy at his official declaration to run for next year’s presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday in Abuja.
The former governor of Abia State said no nation whether in ancient or modern times, has ever become truly great without the efficient and effective deployment of science, technology and innovation to nation building.
“I am convinced that I have the knowledge, the experience, the credibility, the education having been trained in one of the best universities in the world, the vision, the integrity, maturity and a man who can be trusted, ” he said.
Professing a greater future for the country, Onu said “I have a dream that Nigeria will make one day lead the world. Let no one tell us that it cannot be done because if we cannot achieve it, our children can,
“The purpose is for Nigeria to do for the black people of the world, what Japan did for the yellow people,” adding that “we must bring discipline into our nation, promote Justice, fairness and equity and allow creativity to flourish.
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“This way, Nigeria will become a nation that all Nigerians will be proud of and other nations will respect.
“Let there be nothing that can make any Nigerian lose hope about the future of Nigeria. Working together, we will make use of a knowledge economy driven by STI, to make Nigeria truly great.”
The presidential aspirant clamour for local content by advocating self-reliance through the production of goods and services consumed in the country rather than import driven economy
“Nigeria must be a producer nation, instead of remaining a consumer nation. We must produce many of the things that we need and use as a people. It is by doing this that we can create wealth and enough jobs for our people, fight poverty, create wealth and prosperity for our nation.
“Nigeria must be self-reliant, added that the country can “no longer depend on other nations to solve our problems,” he declared
Equipped to tackle Nigerian problems, he said “we are better equipped to solve these problems ourselves. This is the road that we have to take; this is the road that we must take. I most respectfully ask my political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to elect me as the Presidential Candidate, and the people of Nigeria to elect me as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for me to be the Chief Servant of the nation.
Meanwhile the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele ends speculations about his presidential interest as the N100m All Progressives Congress (APC) Expression of Interest and Nomination forms were obtained for him on Friday.
A group of committee of friends picked the expression of interest and nomination forms for him at the International Conference Centre, the venue of the APC sales of forms.
But it is unclear at the press time if Emefiele has resigned from office as CBN Governor.
However, the Nigerian constitution does not give room for a person occupying the position of a serving CBN Governor to venture into partisan politics.
Section 9 of the CBN Act, 2007, said the apex bank governor must not venture into any other vocation while in office and must resign in writing to the President if he nursed such intention.
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