Stanley Osifo, a presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, has pledged to build new refineries and tackle national debts if elected president in 2023.

“The Nigerian economy has witnessed calculated and orchestrated attacks for many years now. I have researched and observed that Nigeria is getting poorer day by day.

“The huge debt burden on Nigeria is an issue that needs to be addressed. It seems to be on the rise,” Mr Osifo said in a statement on Monday.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime has been criticised for excessive borrowing to fund infrastructure projects.

The aspirant who decried the enormous amount of money spent subsidising fuel said such must be addressed to revamp the nation’s economy.

“We could deduce that the wealth and prosperity of Nigeria and Nigerians are taken out and given to other countries on a minute by minute basis.

“This is through subsidy provisions that do not have a contributory effect on our nation’s economic output.

“One way to reverse this backward trend and return wealth, prosperity, employment upscaling, economic revamp, and national development is to build brand new refineries in the zones in Nigeria.

“When we have new refineries, Nigeria will become self-sufficient in production of all derivatives of petroleum products,” Mr Osifo, formerly a 2019 presidential aspirant of PDP, said.

Mr Osifo said that the huge amount of money being spent on importing derivatives of petroleum products would be saved and channelled to developing and introducing new economic paradigms.

“This action shall change the current situation and result in wealth creation. This will, in turn, make Nigerians prosper,” he added.

Mr Osifo said that he was contesting the presidential ticket for the second time to provide welfare, prosperity, and security for Nigerians both at home and abroad. 

(NAN)