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The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has spoken about his plan to revive the country’s economy.

He spoke on Wednesday at the 26th Lagos Business School Alumni Conference.

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The event was attended by his counterpart, Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party and many business executives including Muda Yusuf, a former director-general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

Atiku made his stance known on fuel subsidy, exchange rate, power, debt crisis and others.

The former vice-president gave a brief background on the economic gains of the PDP between 1999-2007 when he was vice president, including debt cancellation, privatization, banking reforms as well as effective working partnership with the private sector.

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On fuel subsidy, he said the PDP government planned to phase out subsidy in batches and he would revive the process if elected.

“I was the chairman for the removal of the fuel subsidy committee and I recall how we removed phase one and phase two of the fuel subsidy,” he said.

“I will continue from where we stopped, remove fuel subsidy totally and channel the subsidy funds back to the economy. In other words, it’s just a fraud.”

He further said his privatization plan is not to render people jobless but to ensure effective governance.

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He described Nigeria’s debt situation as a mess, adding that he would seek cancellation.

“If you are talking about foreign debt, we have done it before, I will engage our creditors and ask for debt forgiveness or cancellation like we did before,” Atiku said.

“Coming to local debt, if we stabilize the economy, we will borrow less and propose a flexible payment plan.

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“Again, I want you to compare our records with the current government and you can see who did well economically.”

Speaking on the rising cost of governance, Atiku said he would revisit the Orosanye report and ensure the white paper report is in conformity with the principle of setting up the committee.

The former vice president stated that he will reform the oil and gas sector by ensuring the right investors are engaged such that Nigeria’s crude production increases.

He said that he would privatize the three refineries in the country.

According to him, with such policies in place, it will ultimately make Nigeria an oil production hub.

When asked to comment on the autonomy of the CBN, the presidential candidate said the current managers of the apex bank are taking a cue from the current administration ”which lacks direction.”

(Premium Times)