Kingsley Moghalu
Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Kingsley Moghalu, has promised to restructure Nigeria and return it to true federalism by 2021, as well as reform the police, healthcare, education, and the energy sector if he is elected president in 2019.
Moghalu, the first aspirant from the Southeast zone to aspire for Nigerian presidency in 2019 made the declaration at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja yesterday, where he said a combination of military rule, oil booms and busts, and successive leadership failures of the political class have robbed the country of its dreamed greatness since independence.
The presidential hopeful served as Chairman, Board of Directors of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) and the Financial Institutions Training Centre. He is also the founder and President of the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET), a new think tank based in Abuja.While he kept mute over the political platform under which he intends to achieve his ambition despite the fact that Nigeria’s current Electoral Law does not allow for independent candidacy, Moghalu said, “My focus, for now, is the people of Nigeria and not on party platforms that have in the past, been mere vehicles for capturing political power.”
He disclosed that several political parties had approached him but said the movement he belongs would decide which of the party to join, saying, “Such decision would be based on commonality of vision and the imperative of a generational shift in leadership, and we will announce this in the coming weeks.“I am standing here today saying that it is time we shatter the downward spiral to nowhere. I am here today, standing with the 110 missing girls of Dapchi and their grieving family, and with the traumatised young women of Chibok, those with us and those still in captivity.
“I am here today standing with 180 million Nigerians, in addition to thousands of businesses struggling to share a measly 4000MW of electricity.“I am here today standing with the 100 million Nigerians experiencing crushing poverty, living on less than N300 a day.“I am here today because 33 million of our able men and women are unemployed or underemployed, nearly 15 million children are out of school, and only 60 percent of Nigerians are literate.
“I am here today because our hospitals are understaffed and mismanaged death traps, and women are still subjected to horrific prejudices and devastating early marriages.“I am taking this stand, here and now, because Nigeria today is divided by ethnic and religious conflicts, made worse by corruption.”
The presidential hopeful added that the Nigerian government has failed to secure the lives of citizens, and that the country has lost its place in the world. It is time to fix these challenges.He said Nigerians are collectively exhausted by the antics of politicians, who have continually fall in and out of alliances with one another and care nothing about the ordinary Nigerian, saying that such politicians aggravate our fears in the hope that we will continue to keep them in power even though they offer nothing new.
Describing Nigeria as a nation of great people, Moghalu said what the country needed most now is a committed movement of the people, by the people and most importantly for the people to move the nation forward and break with its troubled past.The former CBN deputy governor assured Nigerians he has the competence, capacity, and character to lead the country and transformed it into a viable and strong nation among the comity of nations, saying, “My colleagues, mentors, friends, and family could vouch for my character.
According to him, “I am not here to tell you that there are quick, easy solutions to our nation’s problems. Decades of economic and leadership mismanagement could not be undone in a few short weeks or months. Things will be difficult and painful but choices would have to be collectively made.“What I am here to tell you is that: together, we can choose a new path. Together, we can set a bold agenda. Together, we can deliver for ourselves a different outcome.”
The financial mogul urged the Nigerian electorate not to sell their conscience or their votes to politicians that have nothing to offer or those that have offered the country nothing credible since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic rule.He insisted that every Nigerian should take the coming general election as a matter of must and a task that must be achieved to change the destiny of the country for good, growth and development, saying, “The best way to achieve this is for every eligible and qualified Nigerians to obtain their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC), which is their weapon and strength to change the country, to determine their future and that of the coming generation.”
