The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, says he plans to ban public officers from sending their children to foreign schools or going for treatment abroad if given the mandate in 2023.

Mr Kachikwu said this on Monday in Abuja when he briefed journalists on the content of his campaign manifesto.

He said he plans to transmit the draft bill of the Nigerian Patriot Act to the National Assembly in his first interface with the lawmakers to restrict public officers from sending their children abroad and stop medical tourism abroad.

“It is a bill of equality and fairness. It is a bill that says we are all in this together. It will ensure that public servants cannot use the privileges they cannot provide to the common man.

“Anyone who desires to be in the public service must use the same services the masses use. No private or foreign schools for their families, no private or foreign hospitals for us or their families,” he said.

The presidential candidate also said his administration would prohibit the use of generators for public office holders.

“There will be no generators or boreholes in our homes, too so we can provide steady power and good water.

“If we desire efficient and effective education, healthcare, and utilities, we must make it available to all so that we may all equally benefit from it. This is how we will build a nation that works for everyone,” he said.

The presidential candidate also said he would prioritise the use of the internet, which he said was the highway of the future.

Mr Kachikwu said his leadership understood the internet was the highway of the future and would strive to build critical broadband infrastructure.

He said that broadband would be made available and affordable for all because this was the only leverage the present generation of youth and the next generation has to bridge the gaps between their foreign counterparts.

“We must re-plan our cities and build-out modern infrastructure across our country so as to reverse the rural-urban migration that threatens most of our communities,” he said.

He said that the concept of youth migrating abroad in search of greener pastures would soon become a thing of the past, as his administration would strive to protect the interest of the nation’s best brains.

“It makes no sense to allow the brain drain occasioned by the migration of the middle class when all they seek is security.

“Visionless leadership cannot continue to lead our people astray, my administration will work to elevate millions of farmers to agri-preneurs and transition farming to agribusiness.

“We will turn Nigeria into the food factory of Africa, providing millions of good paying jobs for the middle class and ending urban migration,” he said. 

(NAN)