6th May, 2022
A PDP presidential aspirant, Mohammed Hayatudeen, has pledged to reform governance and restore hope to Nigerians if elected president in 2023.
Hayatudeen, while meeting with the PDP House of Representatives caucus in Abuja, said if elected president, he would return Nigeria to the era of a better time, where there was substantial economic growth through sustainable reforms and engagement of intellectuals.
“With my motivation, my background experience, and as somebody with a proven track record of transformation, I will go in and unlock that switch, turn it on again, and take this country to the stratosphere.
“Nigerians are phenomenal people. The entrepreneurial energy that flows through the veins on Nigeria, is unparalleled.
“I can only compare it to the United States because the human intelligence in this country is unbelievable. But there are barriers that are holding us back.
“I will roll back the frontiers of government and give expression and hope to the Nigerian private sector, represented by small, medium, large scale industries, to actually come in and play the rightful part by incentivizing them and removing all manners of obstacles.”
He said with sufficient checks and balances, Nigeria could be made one of the greatest nations in the world.
Hayatudeen said what motivated him going into the presidential election was to tackle the root causes of Nigeria’s economic challenges and insecurity.
The presidential aspirant, who said that he became the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive of New Nigeria Development Company, a portfolio of 145 companies, at the age of 30, added that he had the requisite experience to successfully rule Nigeria.”
Hayatudeen said that though some might consider him a political neophyte, politics had been part of him, having worked in different places where he had to make critical decisions.
He disclosed that he had served three presidents as advisers on three presidential advisory councils.
“NNDC was actually a public institution, owned by the 19 Northern governors and I had to contend with dealing at that time with the military governors of the19 states, including major-generals and brigadiers.
“Each of them had placed a compelling set of demands and pressures on my shoulders and our management.
“We had to navigate those waters to ensure that we are able to make everybody happy, while at the same time not stalling the progress of the corporation.”
Hayatudeen said that he had been prepared for leadership because he was saddled with both the private sector, civil society space, and public space.
“Also, I am one of the key founding members of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), the foremost private economic think-tank that was established in 1992.
“The group was set up to foster sustainable long-term economic development of this country by bringing both the public sector, civil society and the private sector together to unleash reforms to coincide with the period of globalisation.
“But for the NESG, Nigeria would have been different today because there was a lot of mutual suspicion and distrust between the public and the private sector.”
In his remarks, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, described Hayatudeen as a focused and fearless man with integrity.
He said if given the opportunity, he believed Hayatudeen would impact lives, especially the next generation and the economy of the country, given his experience.
The minority leader, who commended the unity among PDP presidential aspirants, urged for its sustenance, saying what PDP needed to win the 2023 election was unity.
“Nigerians are waiting for us, they’re calling on us to come rescue and rebuild Nigeria.
“We can only do that If we also put ourselves in a position that Nigerians hope to see us, to rescue them and bring them back to where our founding fathers had wished that we should be.”