Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole
Presidential Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prof. Jerry Gana has presented his policy document, code-named ‘SWIFT’ in Abuja, while claiming that it had designed specific strategies to defeat Boko Haram and herdsmen militias. He also promised to increase the numerical strength of the Nigeria Police to 900,000 and also increase the number of Assistant Inspector General of Police by posting one to every state and assigning one commissioner of police t every senatorial district.
On December 14, 2018, a Federal High Court declared him as the authentic presidential candidate of the party.
“We have designed specific strategies to decisively fight Book Haram and the herdsmen militia, kidnappers and armed robbers, but for obvious reasons we won’t disclose our strategies, he said.”
Speaking further Gana said, “We are under policed and the police is under equipped. They are doing their best given the training and the facilities at their disposal. If we must secure our people then we must increase the number of the officers of the Nigeria Police to 900,000, with each state having not less than 25,000.”
He submitted, “Though state governors are chief security officers in their states, they don’t really have that control over the police. We will have in each senatorial district a commissioner of police for efficient policing. We will have an Assistant Inspector General in every state of the federation. And we make sure that the presence of police officers are felt at the ward level. This will be done in the first six months. In doing this we must also strengthen the police with modern equipment and hi-tech equipment for solutions.”
He also promised to return Nigeria to true federalism, “We want federalism that reflects the will and the aspirations of the people; fiscal federalism. “The Fiscal Responsibility Act will be replaced with Fiscal Expansionary Act which allows for economic growth.”
While explaining the SWIFT he said, “The SWIFT program has been meticulously designed to ignite productive growth and thereby mitigate Nigeria’s current socio-economic and governance crises, and set the momentum for sustainable growth of the economy. The core of SWIFT is structured to foster a Nigeria that works for all Nigerians, driven by common objectives and people’s participation in Reworking Nigeria Together. For emphasis, our social contract with the Nigerian people and directive principles are fundamentally anchored on the restoration of human dignity; promotion of the rule of law; strategic focus on the welfare of the Nigerian people; enthronement of new governance processes; delivery of social justice; and respect for human dignity, human rights, ethno-religious harmony and the sanctity of human life.” He said SWIFT stands for; S: Security Re-engineering, W: Wealth Creation, I: Infrastructure Excellence and Power Supply, F: Fight Against Corruption and Indiscipline and. T: Technology, Education and Human Development
He also used the occasion to appoint his directors of campaign including Dr. Ike Neliaku, Mr. Humphrey Aba, former Minister of Police Affairs and Mrs. Hauwa Shekarau former President International Federation of Women Lawyers.
