African Democratic Congress’ (ADC) vice-presidential candidate, Rotimi Amaechi, has promised to resign if Nigerians do not begin to feel a change within one year of an Atiku Abubakar administration presidency.

Amaechi spoke during an interview on national television yesterday where he urged Nigerians to hold him to the pledge.

If Nigeria does not begin to change one year after we have come to office, come to me, I will resign,” he said.

He said he was not promising to solve every national problem within a year, but insisted that citizens would see tangible improvements. “You will have a breath of fresh air,” he said.

Amaechi did not state the indicators, such as inflation, employment, security or fuel prices, by which the change would be measured.

He defended Atiku’s proposal to support local refining through a production subsidy, arguing that the removal of the fuel subsidy had raised transport and production costs, with knock-on effects on food, housing and other essentials.

It affects the bread you buy, it affects the transport you use to go to work or anywhere,” he said.

Under the plan, he explained, government would sell crude oil to domestic refiners below the international benchmark, with the price difference serving as the subsidy.

“For instance, if the international market price of crude oil is N15,000, Dangote has a refinery, there are those who have modular refineries. So you say to them, ‘Look gentlemen, we will sell to you at N10,000. Our subsidy is the N5,000 you are not paying,’” he said.

He said cheaper domestic refining would lower the prices of bread, diesel, fuel, rent, transport and food. He added that the Petroleum Industry Act should be amended if necessary to enable the policy.

On the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) refineries, Amaechi cautioned against making commitments before assessing their condition and the cost of rehabilitation.

“Until you get into government, don’t be like those who made promises and when they got into government, they were overwhelmed,” he said.

Amaechi said the administration would prioritise agriculture and its entire value chain, including processing and industrialisation.

“We are raw material producers. So, we will therefore not only produce, we’ll encourage production, we’ll fund production, but we’ll also encourage the entire value chain,” he said.

He linked the economic agenda to the fight against insecurity, arguing that job creation would reduce the number of Nigerians vulnerable to recruitment by criminal groups.

Citing his record as Rivers State governor, he said: “First, acknowledge the fact that I was the governor who fought insecurity in Rivers State and brought it down.”

He said his administration combined security measures with employment, agricultural support and community development. He said it set up the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency to train and support farmers, and that the agency was earning N1 billion a year and was self-sustaining before he left office.

He added that his government awarded contracts to local contractors, built primary healthcare centres and spread road projects across communities to create jobs.

You create jobs and grow the economy, and they have other things they can do, they have source of livelihood, then you increase training for policemen and the army,” he said.

He named security, education and the economy as the three areas the country must address to progress. On education, he cited his administration’s investment in Rivers secondary schools, including the recruitment of teachers from India to fill a shortage of science teachers.

Amaechi rejected suggestions that the ADC ticket was targeting mainly Northern votes, saying economic hardship knew no regional boundaries.

“Hunger does not know where you come from,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the North. It has to do with the fact that the way things are now, it is life or death.”

Describing himself as a “detribalised Nigerian”, he cited appointments he recommended as transport minister under former President Muhammadu Buhari, including Hadiza Bala Usman, from the North, as Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority.

“I see you as a Nigerian, I don’t see you as an Efik man or an Igbo man,” he said.

He also recalled confronting Buhari over the direction of the administration. “Mr. President, you recall that when people were voting for us, they thought they were voting for the Buhari of 1983?” he said he asked. He said he subsequently reduced his participation in government, though he acknowledged infrastructure projects undertaken under Buhari.

Amaechi also criticised the Tinubu administration over insecurity and what he described as arrests of opposition supporters, saying government had a constitutional duty to protect lives and property.

He said an ADC administration would also seek to reduce corruption and redirect public resources to productive sectors. (The Nation)