TheCable

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will commence a nationwide publicity tour of all projects carried out by its elected and appointed officials at all levels of government on Monday, the party’s national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, said on Sunday.

According to Metuh, the aim of the tour is to highlight the performance of its members in government.

He also said the tour is a unique response to the negative campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the ruling party.

“As you are aware, in the last 15 years of our democracy, our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has continued to be the custodian of the sacred mandate freely given by Nigerians since 1999,” Metuh said.

“Within this period, the PDP has strictly and vigorously applied itself to delivering on the mandate of not only establishing a free and democratic society in which the powers and actions of government are lawful, but also creating a dynamic economy where the welfare and prosperity of the people are guaranteed through sound policies and rapid infrastructural development in all the sectors of the economy.

“However, while millions of Nigerians continue to enjoy the evident benefits of having the PDP in power, and demonstrating their satisfaction through their votes in successive elections, the opposition has mounted a negative campaign asking what the PDP has done in the last 15 years.

“Many of them have also queried the rationale behind the unanimous adoption of President Goodluck Jonathan as our sole presidential candidate for the 2015 general election. The Peoples Democratic Party will respond in a unique way.

“In the next couple of months, beginning from Monday, September 22, 2014, the publicity directorate will embark on a comprehensive nationwide PDP performance tour to visit and publicise all projects executed by all PDP elected and appointed officials at the federal, state and local government levels in all the sectors of the economy since 1999, including constituency projects and interventions using special bodies such as NDDC, PTDF, CBN, SURE-P, etc.

“Indeed, there is no state, local government or ward in Nigeria that has not been positively affected by projects executed by PDP governments at federal, state and local government levels. Such projects abound in non-PDP states and many Nigerians erroneously give credit to the opposition, which they eagerly accept.

“Also, in states formerly controlled by the PDP, such as Edo, Rivers, Nasarawa, Kano, Sokoto, Kwara, among others, the opposition parties, now in control are laying claims to our projects. This tour will ‘recover’ our projects claimed by the opposition and return the credit to the PDP.

“This is in addition to constituency projects by federal and state lawmakers, which were mobilised by the PDP-led federal government as well as the rapid growth in the private sector owing to our well-articulated reform policies and programmes in key sectors including
banking, power, communication, aviation, transport, commerce and industry, retailing, agriculture, housing and others making our nation one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

“Our tour will entail a comprehensive sector-by-sector appraisal of our performance in all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and the successes recorded in transforming the lives of citizens in the last 15 years of our democracy.”

The PDP spokesman notes that the party’s performance tour is different from the “Good Governance Tour” of information minister Labaran Maku because only projects done by PDP members will be showcased.

“How is the PDP Performance Tour different from the Good Governance Tour? While the Good Governance Tour focused on the projects executed by all the parties under the current dispensation, the PDP Publicity Tour will focus on all projects executed by all PDP-elected or appointed officials, including the federal government, our state governors, ministers federal and state legislators, local government chairmen and councilors past and present since 1999,” he said.

“We therefore urge all Nigerians to be part of this laudable project as we catalogue our collective successes under the PDP-led administration. In this regard, we wish to state that as we embark on our performance tours, we will no longer focus on answering to diatribes of the opposition. Our answer to such is that we meet at the polls in 2015. All members of the party are by this directed to comply accordingly.

“The leadership of the party also wishes to use this opportunity to congratulate all members of our National Executive Committee (NEC) for a successful meeting last Thursday.

“We note that the decision of NEC to endorse President Goodluck Jonathan was based on his performance in office and the confidence our people have expressed in his leadership. The fact remains that under the present administration, our nation has witnessed an unprecedented
progress in all critical sectors through Mr. President’s Transformation Agenda in spite of the security challenges we face as a nation.

“Apart from the massive infrastructural development being witnessed across board, it is incontestable that the private sector has immensely flourished in the last three years owing to the continued implementation of our manifesto and policies including the PDP ideology of transfer of wealth from public institutions to the private sector, allowing hard working private individuals to thrive in manufacturing, aviation, housing, banking, telecoms, food processing, hospitality, education, transport, construction, oil and gas among others.

“The leap in the nation’s economy has been acknowledged by the world community. The Fitch Ratings which affirmed Nigeria’s long-term foreign and local currency IDRs, the senior unsecured bond and Short-term foreign currency IDR ratings respectively at ‘BB”s and the rebasing of our economy which placed it as the 26th largest economy in the world and the largest economy in Africa attest to this.

“We invite Nigerians to note that these achievements were in spite of very serious security challenges facing the administration especially, the insurgency in the north. It is our incontrovertible statement that no other political party in this country would have maintained democracy in the face of such stiff detractions.

“Also we note the candor, forthrightness and humility with which President Goodluck Jonathan has continued to apply himself in ensuring the welfare and prosperity of all Nigerians as one family without regard to ethnic, tribal, religious and political considerations.

“It is manifest that President Jonathan enjoys the support and solidarity of the Nigerian people who desire the continuation of his Transformation Agenda and the consolidation of the gains thereof under the PDP-led administration.

“Finally, in keeping with our total commitment to the tenets of internal democracy, the leadership of the PDP hereby releases our comprehensive guideline for our nomination processes for the 2015 general election. We assure our members and teeming supporters that we are not only strictly committed to ensuring a level playing ground for all aspirants but also assures of a strong and formidable platform for victory in the elections.”