Health Policy

The best private hospitals and private clinics in Nigeria deliver excellent health care services if you can afford to pay their exorbitant charges. The doctors and nurses are highly skilled. The operating theaters are well-equipped with the best technologies available in the health industry; and there is usually a good back--up of diagnostic laboratories and consultants. Judged by the standards of high-brow services which can be found in Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna and Port Harcourt, Nigerian health care delivery services leave nothing to be desired.

But at the other end of the spectrum the situation is very different. Our general hospitals nation-wide are in ruins. Defective equipment are not repaired or replaced. Drugs are in short supply or non-existent. Patients are often made to buy their own medicines, surgical dressings, drips, blood for transfusion, hypodermic syringes, and razor blades. Hospital fees, which have to be paid up-front now, are so excessive that the great majority of the common people have to seek for medical help, not from hospitals, but from babalawos and prayer houses.

These developments are taking place in a depressed economy in which general adversity malnutrition and urban squalor are cooperating to undermine the health of the people. Cholera, celebre-spinal meningitis and tuberculosis are once again on the rampage. The Global scurge of HIV threatens not only the lives but the livelihood of families. Yet with these conditions, the best of our doctors, pharmacists and nurses are checking out. There is no record of the number of our medical people who have emigrated to Saudi Arabia, the United States of America and Great Britain; but the exodus has been such as to empty the teaching hospitals, general hospitals and the rural areas.

To make a totally intolerable health emergency even more desperate, a good many of the drugs sold off the counter in Nigeria today are fake concoctions more liable to harm than to heal the sick.

The crisis of health care delivery in the nation requires dramatic high-priority attention. And already the present government appears to be taking some action to stop the decay in teaching hospitals and government hospitals. The All Progressive Grand Alliance proposes that as these facilities are re-equipped, re-staffed and re-financed, they will begin to specialize as national centres of excellence in their chosen field, in open heart surgery for example, or renal medicine, or the treatment of the complications of hypertension. Until we are able to concentrate specialists, technology and other resources in specific hospitals to enable them give the best care possible anywhere in the world, rich Nigerians will not stop traveling abroad even for the treatment of minor conditions. Quite apart from the question of national pride and of saving hard currency costs, there is the question of making specialist medical services more generally available to the people.

But the great health care challenge for us is the challenge of providing a primary health care programme for the nation as a whole. A National Commission for this purpose has apparently already been set up. According to reports, the Commission has equipped 200 federally sponsored clinics for its programme. But the truth of the matter is that the Federal Government has no business in running a clinic anywhere. What is going on is a Federal Government usurpation for political purposes of state or local council duties.

Properly understood, primary health care is a wide range of actions which communities take to promote good health for the benefit of the people with the participation of the people. It includes actions taken to promote food supply and nutrition, safe water supply, sanitation in households and the environment, health education, maternal and child care, prevention and control of endemic diseases, routine care in hospitals and clinics, and rehabilitation. These are not matters which can be taken care of in 200 federal clinics.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance proposes that duties for the actualization of primary health care should be allocated to the three tiers of government as follows:

1. Duties of the Federal Government
i. To set up a National Health Council which will develop comprehensive national policies, strategies and plans of action to ensure good medical services, healthy living and socio-economic well being for the people.

ii. To mobilize health resources, train manpower, establish standards, recommend technologies, monitor and evaluate programmes of action, and maintain reliable statistics on the health of the nation.

iii. To vote money and other resources for the actualization of the agreed programme of action.

iv. Through NAFDAC and other inspectorate and standard organizations, to ensure that drugs manufactured in the country or imported into the country conform with medical specification and the highest international standards.

v. To mobilize FEPA and other agencies and non-governmental organizations concerned with the environment to fight pollution and minimize environmental damage to public health.

2. The Duties of State Governments
State governments, acting through their Ministries of Health inter-ministerial Health Management Boards will form national policies into operational activities. They will take responsibility.

i. To create Health Management Boards to co-ordinate all service producers including the Ministry of Health, Education and Finance; the Water Board environmental agencies, donor organizations and non-governmental organizations. Boards will also be responsible for the co-ordination of work in the local council areas.

ii. To provide funding, technical services, the monitoring of standards, the choice of technologies, lists of essential drugs which must be held stock evaluation and upgrading of services.

iii. To maintain high quality specialist hospitals, laboratories and technical services, to which referrals from communities should he made.

3. Community Health
Since primary health care is what the people do to promote and preserve their health and wellbeing, local movement council areas are the places where the real action must be.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance will encourage local councils to create Health Management Committees to set local priorities and targets to plan, implement, monitor, evaluate and upgrade health-related actions. These actions should include progmmes for the health of women, reproductive health, nutrition education, diets, hygiene and sanitation, medical care, the care of the elderly, dental health, psychiatric health, accident prevention and rehabilitation.

The entire programme of action aims at mobilizing entire communities to act purposefully for the protection of socio economic well being, health practices and medical care. Until the government of the day recognizes the need to do this and take measures to stimulate the creative response of our communities to take appropriate action, we cannot begin to think of ourselves a modern people-centred democracy.

Defence and National Security

Nigeria's leadership position in Africa is presently unquestioned. In consequence of that position, we must have an efficiently trained, soundly equipped and professionally led Armed Forces in the continent. The Community of West African States is our immediate operational corridor, in which we have to face incalculable challenges of leadership and self, defense. But we also have commitments in the African Union of which only time will tell what is entailed. From time to time, we have been summoned to play part in United Nations peace keeping in Africa and beyond. Even within our own borders, zonal tensions, religious disturbances and ethnic unrest have created a climate in which combat-readiness is a pre-requisite for peace.

The objectives of the All Progressives Grand Alliance for defense and national security is to equip the Nigerian Armed Forces to meet these challenges.

i. APGA will ensure that the Nigerian Armed Force is professionally trained, disciplined, equipped with every modern engine of war, compact in size and fully mobile. It should be easily capable of repulsing any attack on our sovereignty, our territorial integrity, our economic interest or the democratic way of life enshrined in our Constitution.

ii. Compulsory training and re-training courses will be mandatory in all services of the Armed Forces and the Nigerian Police. In this regard the Armed Forces University in Zaria the Naval University in Oron and the Police College will be funded equipped and staffed to conduct their re-training programmes.

iii. In the re-training and motivation of our defence forces, it is important that emphasis be placed upon democratic values, the defence of the Federal Constitution and the humane basis of national peace and security. The politicization of the Armed Forces has itself been a source of conflict and insecurity. This fact should be born in mind in all prograrrune for the re-training and professionalisation of the men in uniform.

iv. APGA notes the extensive role which the Nigerian Army has to play in patrolling our long and porous national borders and the dependence of modern armies on sophisticated equipment. APGA also recognizes the need for combat- readiness to deal with both internal and external emergencies. These needs should clearly be reflected in appropriate budgetary provisions.

v. APGA will also give special attention to the training and equipment of the Nigerian Air Force as the service most capable of responding immediately and decisively in military emergencies.

vi. APGA will accord priority to the role of the Nigerian Navy as the force which must guard our territorial waters against aggression, piracy and smuggling and ensure security for the increasing exploitation of gas and oil resources in the Gulf of Guinea.

vii. APGA will ensure that our defense industries are funded and re-positioned to produce the military equipment we need. In this regard the mobilization of local scientists and technologists for this purpose will greatly enlarge the scope of our Armed Forces.

viii. APGA notes as a matter of course that salaries, barracks, uniforms and personal welfare for both the Armed Forces and the Police must he upgraded immediately.

ix. With regard to internal security. APGA will put into effect the proposals for new recruitment and massive re-training for all ranks in the Police Force. Sophisticated equipment and communication for combating crime will be provided And arrangements must he made on the ground to ensure that law enforcement is community based. The Police cannot achieve anything if they do not deserve and receive the co-operation of the people.

x. APGA notes that the role of State Governors as the Chief Security Officers of their states is a relatively empty formula. APGA will therefore, request the National Security Council to clarify the idea which is clearly relevant to on-going agitations for State Police Forces.

xi. APGA re-affirms its faith in democracy, good government, good neighbourliness and across-the-board consultations between all stakeholders as the ultimate guarantees of peace and security.

xii. APGA shall pursue a policy in which the accommodation of Policemen in Barracks shall be brought to a stop. APGA believes that Policemen shall live among the communities they are trained to protect.

xiii. APGA shall explore the possibility of selling-up a special fund for the Police force.

Justice and the Judiciary

The policies of the All Progressives Grand Alliance on Justice and the Judiciary will be based upon the following cardinal principles.

i. Defence of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the supreme law which prescribes a limit to the exercise of power by all persons and institutions;

ii. Maintenance of the independence of the Judiciary and the promotion of the principle of the separation of powers as enshrined in the constitution;

iii. The equality before the law of all persons resident in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the insistence that justice, equity, due process, human rights, and social justice should be available to all.

It is generally admitted that Nigeria has a brilliant Bar. But the administration of justice has often left much to be desired. The infrastructure of unventilated old court buildings, far too few in number and under-equipped in facilities; poor transport, manual transcription of evidence, and poor support services have not helped speedy administration of justice. And there is an attitude, especially with regard to criminal cases, that our treatment of offenders is not a matter of tremendous importance.

In addition, the pay and conditions of service of judicial officers are not sufficiently competitive as to attract star preformers and ambitious advocates to the bench. Appointments have often been treated as benefactions distributed on the basis of favouritism, political influence and a mistaken interpretation of the Federal Character rule. Not surprisingly, legal scholarship, firmness of character, discipline, integrity and exemplary character have been on the decline among magistrates and judges. Corruption has been authoritatively commented on notably by the Justice Kayode Eso Reports. It is generally believed that Federal and State executives are able to exert undue influence in the course of justice. At the same time, the standard of legal education has been falling with devastating consequences especially in the lower ranks of the bench.

To redress these situations. The All Progressives Grand Alliance will implement the following policies:

i. APGA will take every step to safeguard the independence of the judiciary and the Judicial Service Commission in the appointment, conditions of service, discipline, and tenure of judicial officers. It is important to ensure that the judiciary is extricated from executive influence and that, as far as possible judges, are insulated from the pressure of the Executive through such matters as their housing, courtrooms, transportation, personal security and welfare. The budget of the Judiciary will continue to be funded from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

ii. Legal qualifications will he important yardstick in all legal recruitments made under the APGA government. Second Class Honours at the LL.B will be the minimum acceptable certificate and preference will be given to lawyers who have postgraduate qualifications or have displayed scholarship through publications and conference papers. Continuing legal education for judges will he promoted In this regard the work of the National judicial Institute will be encouraged and greatly increased.

iii. The scrutiny of the moral character and background of prospective appointees to the bench and to other judicial offices will he undertaken as a regular routine. Laws which give corrupt judges any form of immunity from prosecution or restrict in any way the full application of the law to them will he abolished. The present government is already moving in this direction.

iv. The remuneration and conditions of service of judicial officers must he raised to make the judiciary attractive to brilliant and ambitious members of the Bar. It is of the utmost importance that the best available talent should enter the services and that adequate retirement benefits be guaranteed to minimize temptation.

v. APGA will greatly increase the number of judges and magistrates, undertake the building of new court houses, and upgrade support systems in order to expedite the hearing of cases. The enormous delays which occur presently form the basis of the saying that justice delayed is justice denied.

vi. APGA will introduce vocational training within the prison system and promote the rehabilitation of released prisoners partly on the basis of humane consideration and partly to minimize recidivism in Nigerian prisons.

vii. A highly professionalized Police Force that is adequately remunerated and decentralized in matters of safety of live and property would be put in place by APGA. APGA believes that an effective police force is a highly desirable requirement for an effective judiciary.

A New Information Charter

An open society is a precondition for good, accountable and transparent government. It is a well-known fact in the United States of America from where we borrowed the presidential system, that the freedom of the press, as it is known today, derives from the belief of the founding fathers that a free press is essential for the protection of democracy. The need was to spread information so that intelligent democratic government would be possible. Had the founding fathers believed that the end of democracy could be been served by the control of the press or the suppression of information, they would have so provided.

A free press is essential to the building of a modem democratic state. Without it, autocracy becomes the norm and democracy becomes impossible. And it must be understood that the freedom of the press is not a privilege of the publisher or the editor or journalist, but rather the fundamental right of the people to know how they are governed. This right, as advocated by APGA, goes with responsibility.

The essential characteristic of a dictatorship or an authoritarian government is that its action cannot be questioned or enquired into. The business of government is conducted in secrecy without the governed making any input.

Public expenditure pattern is arbitrarily determined by a few person acting in secret. This not only accounts for the high level of wastage of resources in government, it is a sure recipe for monumental corruption that is the hallmark of our government today.

The conduct of an APGA government will be open. The Presidency will be democratized and accountable to the Nigerian people at all times. APGA will, therefore, facilitate the passing of an Access to Information Act, which will guarantee the constitutional rights of Nigerians to know exactly how they are governed. APGA will, therefore. Introduce the following measures:

i. The Official Secret Act and all similar laws will be abrogated and replaced with an Access to Information Act. The Act will specify the rights and obligations of the press in accessing information without official restrictions.

ii. All documents that do not have national security implications will be declassified.

iii. Assets declarations will be publicly accessible.

iv. Civil servants will no longer be gagged from giving information as required.

v. The laws of defamation and libel will be reviewed in line with the Access to Information Act.

vi. The ownership of television stations, radio stations, newspapers, news magazines, and other news media will be fully deregulated and subject to minimum registration fees in order to give full freedom of information to the people.

vii. Restrictions on the publication of certain classes of official news, such as election results from polling stations and collating stations will be lifted in the interest of transparency.

The APGA Freedom of Information Charter will protect our democracy from abuse and corruption so that the wealth of the nation can be used for the development of the country for the benefit of the masses.

Energy

Nigeria is the sixth largest oil producer in the world. With an OPEC quota of 2.21 million barrels (worth = $17.36 million) per day, we export 1.10 million barrels (57%), refine 0.5 million barrels (27%) for domestic use, and keep 0.53 million barrels (27.3%) on strategic reserve. In 2000 and 2001, exploration in the rich Benin embankment and the deep continental shelf opened up vast new deposits which will place the Nigerian oil industry in an entirely new league. The prospects for the future are promising.

But the Nigerian oil experience has been dogged by unfathomable difficulties. Host communities in the Niger Delta who have never been properly consulted have been up in arms threatening at every turn to stop operations by boarding rigs or by taking workers as hostages. In 2000, the NNPC reported 2,895 cases of the vandalisation of pipelines and other installations of which 6 episodes led to fires in which about a thousand lives were lost. Moreover, the Federal Revenue Mobilization Team in the same year reported revenue losses of N260 billion arising from fraudulent accounting by oil companies and illegal bunkering. In the same year too, the NNPC itself was unable to keep its refineries in operation for a total of 120 days. The experience of Nigerian motorists queuing at petrol filling stations do not need to be recounted. It is quite clear that we have not come close to energy security as far as petrol is concerned.

One of the key problems which afflicts every aspects of our lives Mt our private homes as well as in our businesses is the lack of a national energy policy which sets out national targets, announces programmes of action with the timing for its different segments, indicates what contributions are expected from petroleum, gas, coal and hydroelectricity and spells out what will be done by public agencies and what contributions are expected from the private sector. The NNPC apparently just proceeded, and more often failed to proceed, to give us fuel upon an unprogrammed and ad hoc basis.

In the gas sector which is still undergoing development, the picture is different. So abundant are the resources that it has been said that Nigeria is a gas producing country which happens to have some petroleum. The first two gas trains are now working. Others are to follow. Already some local industries are re-tooling for the use of gas as their production fuel. It may well be that gas is what we need to lift us from present adversity to prosperity.

With regards to coal, it is estimated that our reserves covering thirteen of the old nineteen states of the federation wm Bauchi to Kogi and Imo States, is about 4750 million metric tonnes. Much of this buried wealth lies waiting for a government that will realise its true possibilities both for domestic energy generation and for export revenue. The fact is that coal fuels 50% of the power generated in the United States of America and 80% of the power generated in India and China.

A government of the All Progressives Grand Alliance will try to realise the following objectives with regard to energy:

i. APGA will initiate a National Energy Policy based upon our proven resources and our need for energy security. It will spell out the roles required for petroleum, gas, coal, hydroelectricity, solar power, nuclear power and any other sources. It will lay the ground rules for indigenous participation in the sector and the rules for foreign investors. It will provide guidelines for energy conservation and energy efficiency, and indicate what must be done or not be done to protect the environment in spirit of the Kyoto Protocol. It will also set targets for future expansion to meet the unfolding needs of the future.

ii. APGA will cooperate with the programme of continuing exploration of our energy resources and empower the private sector to increase the exploitation of new discoveries.

iii. APGA will explore avenues for the exploitation of our coal deposits to increase energy supply. In this regard, the conversion of our coal to a standard required in the production of steel will be put into effect. The production of smokeless coke for domestic use will also be implemented to avoid continued deforestation.

iv. It is quite clear that apart from large power stations, we need a vast number of subsidiary stations. Small hydroelectric systems, small gas-fired turbines, coal stations like Oji, and private sector outfits all of which will contribute to material sufficiency.

v. APGA recognises that the NNPC and its subsidiaries were for the most part unable to do their duty. They failed to create reasonable agreement with their host communities in the Niger Delta or to monitor the activities of their technical partners. They did not satisfy the domestic need for energy or keep a strict account of the revenue due to Government. Their facilities were open to vandalization at all times and their dealers frequently delivered the supplies they collected either to bunkerers or across the Nigerian border. APGA is, therefore, of the opinion that what we need now is a small professional agency charged with regulatory and inspectorate duties only and having no responsibility for production or marketing.

vi. It follows that prospecting refining, lifting and marketing will be private sector operations. However, Nigerian businesses and the Nigerian public must be guaranteed a share in these commercial operations.

vii. Since the first oil operations started at Oloibiri in 1951, Nigeria has produced a large number of persons who have undoubted expertise in every aspect of the oil industry. It is clear that the process of operational indigenisation can now be insisted upon by government. The same principle applies in the coal industry and hydroelectric power generation.

viii. Nigerian oil and gas industries will, however, not be substantially indigenous until our universities have developed academic and industrial attachment programmes capable of training our managers in all aspects of prospecting, extracting, refining, lifting and marketing. It is upon this new cadre of trained manpower that the national energy security will depend.

Agriculture and Rural Life

Nigerian governments have always understood the dangers of our being unable to feed ourselves. The farm settlements of the 1950s, Operation Feed the Nation (1976-79), the Green Revolution (1979- 83), River Basin Development Authorities (1979- 83) and Directorate of Food and Rural Infrastructure (1985-93) are only some of the steps taken by governments at various times to ensure that we can feed ourselves adequately and cheaply. Agricultural research stations have been in existence from colonial times in Samaru in Zaria. Moore Plantation in Ibadan, Umudike in Umuahia and elsewhere. From the late ‘90s, mandatory quotas of bank credit were being set aside for agricultural loans. In the Second Republic the CBN directed banks to begin rural banking to extend the benefits of saving and credit to farming communities. Today many new plans are on the table.

But all these paper plans have achieved little or nothing. Massive government funds for agricultural improvements in the past disappeared into the pockets of the rich. Peasant farmers had no collateral to benefit from banking credit. Their businesses were also too small and their imagination too limited for them to approach the banks. Results from research stations did not reach them, as they did not read scientific journals. Meanwhile they lost 20% of their harvest to weevils, mealie bugs and other pests and another 40% to poor storage, poor handling, and poor sales management.

Yet the farmers who produce cassava, yams, beans, rice, millet, guinea com, tomatoes, onions and carrots and the herdsmen who pasture cattles, sheep and goats are the people who feed the nation. They give as much to the national economy as civil servants and teachers. They are entitled to everything we can do to promote their work.

To reform agriculture, attain food security, and revitalise rural life, the All Progressives Grand Alliance will take the following measures.

i. APGA will empower local government councils as the third tier of government to lake responsibility for agricul-ture, primary education, primary health etc.

ii. To re-invigorate rural life, present efforts to improve rural roads, rural water supply, rural electricity and rural banking will be intensified.

iii. Recognition, encouragement and marching grants will be given to community organisations working on community projects.

iv. Local government councils will mobilize carefully structured pools of experts within their services to deal with problems of forestry, sheep and cattle herding, soil maintenance, the upgrading of farm techniques, the distribution of improved seeds, the use of fertilizers and pesticides, farm produce storage and transportation and marketing, and the organisation of cooperatives.

v. In the programme for industrialization, priority should be given to the manufacture of farm equipment since the mechanization of peasant farms cannot take place with imported dollar-denominated equipment.

vi. To give rural life its rightful place in the mainstream of our economic credit must be made available to agriculture. Until an appropriate part of the wealth of the nation is available for food production, our agriculture will remain backward. At the same time the mechanization of farming, the advance to agro-based industries, the produc-tion of genetically modified foods and the use of even low-level technology in our farms will not occur. APGA will ensure that studies which are needed to solve the problems of funding peasant agriculture are undertaken as a matter of national priority.

vii. In local government areas in the deep North where water scarcity is an abiding problem, comprehensive programmes of water management embracing river basins, dams, bore-hole construction, underground water utilization and small-scale irrigation will be undertaken with the support of the federal government for the benefit of farmers, herdsmen and the people as a whole.
It is, however, recognized that rural development is the responsibility of local government councils and that each council appropriately funded and empowered will accept the challenge of meeting its unique needs in its own unique way.

The Economy

With swarms of beggars on our streets and destitution in millions of homes, Nigeria is a very poor country indeed. Three out of every four Nigerians live below the international poverty line of US$2.00 per day. Half of our children are malnourished and half also are not enrolled in school. Most adults are unemployed; and the average expectation of life is just fifty years. These surely are cruel realities which any political party intending to grapple with the problems of our national life must face.

The problems of the Nigerian economy are not resource-related. In terms of endowment, we are exceptionally rich. Even in terms of current income which is estimated at the beginning of the year to be N1.15 trillion, we should be comfortable. The federally collectable revenue will certainly double in a few years time as petroleum sales rise and new gas trains are commissioned.

Our main problem is that the Nigerian economy (and indeed the Nigerian experience itself) have been shaped by dictatorships both military and civilian. To those who have controlled the nation, what mattered most were their own security, the benefits they passed on to their support base and the creation of a national buffer of clients, hangers-on, flatterers and secondary looters. The result was the cruel, corrupt and inefficient prebendiary system which we call the Nigerian state. Nobody bothered about the people as the raison d’etre of government nor about the work and welfare of the people as the ultimate wealth of the nation.

These difficulties will surely come to an end as the system is truly democratized.

The goal of the All Progressive Grand Alliance is to build democratic foundations for economic growth and development. At the core of that foundation will be the diversification of our mono-cultural lifeline through the development of solid minerals, manufacturing for export to the West African sub-region and agriculture for food sufficiency. To achieve these objectives, it will be important to maintain macroeconomic stability in order to encourage long term planning and foreign investment.

APGA will work for the creation of a national economy that is people-centred and private-sector-driven. The role of government will be essentially to facilitate and umpire the process of developing agreed national aims and objectives and thereafter to manage fiscal and monetary policies well enough to raise our global competitiveness.

APGA recognizes that no effort has yet been made to reach national agreement on many important issues.

i. The precise nature of the linkage between the Nigerian economy and the world economy is a matter of deep misunderstanding between the Federal Government, the National Assembly, the Manufacturers Associations, the Trade Union Congress, the intellectual community and other stakeholders.

ii. Although it is clear that the economy should be restructured, it is by no means agreed that the key instruments for that restructuring should, without considerable modifications, be deregulations, privatisation, trade liberalisation, globalisation, etc. Opinion from different parts of the Federation differs on this point and any unilateral action taken now runs the risk of being reversed latter.

iii. There is need to reach agreement about the management of the Federation Account. The main source of funds for national development is the revenue from petroleum which is subject to violent fluctuations. In good times, there is a problem of making provisions for the rainy day just as there is a problem of controlling the amount of cash which should go into circulation at any given time. But apparently there has been no discussion of these issues between the Federal Government, the state government and local government councils.

The failure to seek a reconciliation of opinions on the management of the Federal Account, budgeting and economic reconstruction shows the poverty of the democratic culture which we have at the present time.

APGA will take the following measures to change the economic life of the nation:

i. It will establish (or reinvigorate) an Inter- Governmental Economic Council charged with responsibility for reconciling opinions on all matters of economic policy and procedure. The Presidency, the National Assembly, State Governments, the business community, the Trade Union Congress, other stakeholders and resource persons will be members of the Council; and it is not the intention that any governmental institution will be in a position to impose its will upon the others.

ii. APGA will reduce the Rediscount Rate and the Interest Rate in order to provide opportunities to business for long-term credit to speed up the expansion of business and employment opportunities.

iii. APGA will insist upon a stricter enforcement of foreign exchange controls with a view to stabilizing the purchasing power of the Naira and making forward planning for businesses more effective.

iv. APGA will intensify the effort to re-build the social and economic infrastructure, most notably roads. Telecommunications, electric power and water supply. Apart from the general enhancement of life, the rehabilitation of utilities will reduce the cost of doing business and contribute to economic expansion.

v. APGA will re-assess the guideline for venture capital and industrial credit with the object of making the banking sector play a more constructive role in the economy.

vi. To fight inflation and promote financial discipline in the system. APGA will insist that all governments shall balance their budgets and desist from extra-budgetary expenditure.

The programme of privatisation and bringing foreign capital into power generation, telecommunications, water supply, the oil and gas industries and petrochemicals will certainly have far-reaching consequences in the national economy. But APGA believes that equal emphasis should be placed on small-scale enterprises, the rural economy and the informal sector. The party will make every effort, through government -funded research, pilot schemes, easier bank credit and technical assistance, to breathe new life into the work and welfare of the people.