All Progressives Congress (APC) has remained the only party anchored on social democracy, social protection and social mobility, especially for the poor, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
Osinbajo stated this on Monday in Abuja at the inauguration of the APC Legal Compliance Committee, with responsibility for more than 1,400 Federal and States elective positions in polls holding later this month and the next. The event was witnessed by the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN; the Minister of State, Labour and Productivity, Mr Festus Keyamo, SAN and the APC National Legal Adviser who is Coordinator of the Committee, Mr Ahmad El-Marzuq.
“Ours is the only party anchored on social democracy, social protection, that is, social mobility for the poor, and justice for the wronged,” the VP said.
According to a statement by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, the vice president said the Committee was crucial to the achievement of the party’s electoral ambitions in the 2023 Elections both at Federal and State levels across the country.
While inaugurating the Committee, the VP urged its members to be proactive and remain committed to this critical assignment.
“I am therefore glad that we have here an assembly of very committed members of the party, who, by their calling as lawyers, will be able to offer tremendous value for the party through protection of its interests at every step of this electoral process,” he observed.
The VP said, “those of you that have worked with us in the build-up to the 2015 and the 2019 general elections know that the proactive approach we adopted, especially through the ear-on-the-ground work of the Presidential Legal Team, has provided us crucial head-start in tackling some of the challenges that we were confronted with.
He added that the party’s manifesto in 2014, 2015 and 2023 contained the most detailed Social Investment Policy.
“In 2015 we became the first government to make budgetary provision of N500 billion for a comprehensive Social Investment Programme; feeding 9.5 million children in our Home-grown School Feeding Programme, providing jobs for 500,000 unemployed graduates through our N-Power programme, many deployed to primary schools in the hinterland as teachers, others trained under the N-TECH, N-BUILD. Our GEEP programme provided 2 million informal traders with small loans via its TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni schemes.
“We also built up the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme. Along with the World Bank and local Communities we complied a register of the poorest Nigerians and began a programme of giving them a total of about N20,000 monthly per household and introduced livelihood support. Our opponents criticized us, for providing money for the poor to do their business, we say to them that is who we are a party committed to lifting the poor out of poverty, but we are also accountable.
“Every person given a loan is properly documented on our electronic perform. They were given money by alerts on their phones so all loans are trackable and the entire process is auditable,” the VP stated.
The Vice President further recalled that the GEEP microcredit programmes, managed by the Bank of Industry (BOI), won several awards including the African Bankers Award twice, as well as getting, other global recognitions.
Noting that the party remained committed to progressive left-of-the-centre ideology, the VP stated that despite global economic challenges, the APC administration under President Buhari has achieved much in the pursuit of this vision.
On his part, the coordinator of the committee, Mr El-Marzuq, said the group comprises carefully selected lawyers tasked with the provision of comprehensive legal services to the party during the electioneering period, noting their preparedness to serve in the different capacities assigned to them.
