Former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has said 40 per cent of the appointments will go to youths, if elected.
Atiku, who spoke yesterday in Lagos at a youth town hall meeting, said his administration would focus on job creation and infrastructure development.
He added that the youths must be given the opportunity to serve and develop their leadership skills.
The former vice president said as future leaders, the best way to get them ready for the task ahead was to get them practically involved.
He added that youths constitute an integral part of the electoral process.
Atiku said: “I am making this promise that 40 per cent of appointments in my government will be youth. It is a promise. I will not break it. My Minister of Youth Development will be younger than 30 years.
“Therefore, if you are younger than 30 years, you can bring your CV. This is simply because the youths are the future of this country. We will build a good future for the country through them.
“We are here because of your future. I have four children but only one is working for government while the rest are working for me in my various companies.”
The PDP candidate said he intended to create jobs by lowering taxes and industrial tariffs for the private sector.
The former vice president noted that this was the trend in industrialised economy.
“In most industrialised countries, it is the private sector that creates jobs. How do they do that? They lower the tax rate.
“If you issue lower tax rates to most companies, they will create jobs. These are the types of incentives you offer the private sector so that they will be able to create jobs.
“I know about creation of jobs and I understand the dynamics of stable and focused economies. As it is, the present administration has no economist. That is what you get in such a situation.”
PDP’s vice presidential candidate Peter Obi said the Federal Government’s trader-moni programme was not impacting.
He said: “They are giving market traders N10,000 for their businesses. I don’t know anywhere in the world such exists.
“It is called vote-buying. If you go to anywhere in the world, such is non-existent. The country is experiencing a lot of hardship every day and we continue this way.”