2023 Presidency:lets Save Nigeria From Collapse – Yahaya Ibrahim Al-yakub

By Abdullahi Kano
Hello fellow reader, kindly finds below the inaugural Speech of a presidential aspirant under the platform of Action Alliance come 2023.
A man with vision and mission who comes out wholeheartedly to bring the Change Nigerians Need.
“Fellow citizens.

This is extending my sincere respect to our elder statesmen and women, our parents, our good friends, well-wishers.We set out on this journey not because we feel we are better than those who had been trying their best towards the development of our great nation, but because we believed that it is a national service to exercise our civic right and by our deepest conviction that we can make a change. It’s humbling, but in my heart, I knew you all didn’t rally around just for me, you did so because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that’s shut you out, that’s told you to settle, that’s divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what’s possible, building that more perfect union.

That’s the journey we’re on today. But let me tell you how I came to be here. As most of you know, we are in a trying time where almost everyday you hear miserable things happening tantamount to a war scenario. You also noticed that living standard at all levels has been plunging down the abyss.

Today in Nigeria, everyone has a story to tell in respect of our endeavors, what we believed as our only hope; the schools lost its moral stance and the farms where we strive to harvest what could sustain us is fast becoming a mirage as it is no safer to do that. 

All of us know what those challenges are today – a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren’t learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. We know the challenges. We’ve heard them. We’ve talked about them for years.

For us to have lost hope as aforementioned, you will believe with me our health and economic sectors will also be disentangled. In a country that is experiencing such despair it’s not going to be a surprise when we have myriads of security challenges as we found ourselves today.

What’s stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. What’s stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics – the ease with which we’re distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.

And as people have looked away in cynicism and defeat, we know what’s filled the void. The pessimists, and the lobbyists, and the special interests who’ve turned our government into a game only they can afford to play, into businesses they trade with. They write the cheques and you get stuck with the money, they get the access while you get to write a letter, they think they own this government, but we’re here today to take it back. The time for that politics is over. It’s time to turn the page.

It is my firm believe that, the young generation of our time, the youth, our good youth, you must wake up and build that lost confidence, innately and outrightly. 

I sincerely and confidently call on our like in the civil society sector, we are the ones who spend useful time working with legislatures, executives and varied stakeholders on reforms, policies, budgets to mention but few but at the end none is achieved or worst you will not have access to them on follow ups, simply because they took us as jockers. For very few who identified themselves as having soft centers for humanity, on assumption of those positions, they change just as we flip a coin against what we entrusted them with.

Our fellow youth and the youthful minds of our great country Nigeria.Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let’s set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. 

Let’s train, retrain and recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let’s make our colleges more affordable, and let’s invest in scientific research, and build a system of local content development that will soon competes with other worldwide.

And as our economy changes, let’s be the generation that ensures our nation’s workers are sharing in our prosperity. Let’s protect the hard-earned benefits their companies have promised. Let’s make it possible for hardworking Nigerians to save for retirement. And let’s allow our unions and their organizers to lift up this country’s middle class once again.

Let’s be the generation that ends poverty in Nigeria. Every single person willing to work should be able to get job training that leads to a job, and earn a living wage that can pay the bills, and afford childcare so their kids have a safe place to go when they work.

Let’s be the generation that finally tackles our health care crisis. We can control costs by focusing on prevention, by providing better treatment to the chronically ill, and using technology to cut the bureaucracy. Let’s be the generation that says right here, right now, that we will have universal health care in Nigeria.

I know there are those who don’t believe we can do all these things, they underestimate our capabilities. I understand the skepticism.

After all, every four years, candidates from both parties make similar promises, and I expect this year will be no different. All of us running for president will travel around the country offering plans and making grand speeches; all of us will trumpet those qualities we believe make us uniquely qualified to lead the country. But too many times, after the election is over, and the confetti is swept away, all those promises fade from memory, and the lobbyists and the special interests move in, and people turn away, disappointed as before, left to struggle on their own.

That is why this campaign can’t only be about me. It must be about us – it must be about what we can do together. This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams. It will take your time, your energy, and your advice – to push us forward when we’re doing right, and to let us know when we’re not.
 This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.That’s why I’m in this race.Not just to hold an office, but to gather with you to transform a nation.I want to win that next battle – for justice and opportunity.

I want to win that next battle – for better schools, better opportunities, and social security for all.I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better Nigeria.

And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe past and future generations, then I’m ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with you.

Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be done, and usher in a new birth of freedom in Nigeria.Finally.

Let’s be the generation that makes future generations proud of what we did.Come forth and take what belongs to us through popular participation.Yours,Al-Yakub, Yahaya Ibrahim”

Who is Yahaya Ibrahim Al-Yakub
Yahaya Ibrahim Al-Yakub
Currently a founder of Afritage Development Consulting Ltd, a consulting firm that develop and help grow civil society organizations, delivers program management to international NGOs, trains and mentor Women and Youth. 
He is the leader of Alliance for Good Governance group, Founder of a youth-based health & social advocacy organization known as “Youth Society for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Social Vices (YOSPIS) in 1996. 
He transferred knowledge and skills gained to many aspiring civil society activists, managed programs and projects in collaboration with World Bank, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), Pathfinder International, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Research Triangle International USA, and National Endowment for Democracy (NED) USA to mention but few. Also coordinated projects funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through Family Health International (FHI360), 4-year IMPACT and 7-year GHAIN projects, 7-year SIDHAS project; between 1998-2004, 2009-2010, & 2011-2018 respectively.
With a background in Microbiology, Master’s in Development Studies, and a Ph.D. in Project Management; in view, is a trained project management expert, organizational system, advocacy, stakeholder management, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, gender, conflict resolution, and human capacity developer.
In his career he was the:
State Team Leader/Prevention Advisor, CEDPA KNFO 2007-2009,Program Officer FHI & AHNi FCT Office 2009-2010Senior Program Officer, dRPC 2010 Senior Program Officer, FHI360/SIDHAS Proj. NWZO 2011-2016State Program Manager, FHI360/SIDHAS Proj. KNFO 2017- 2018 Project Management Consultant offered on several requirements to FHI360, AHNi, BMGF, JHPIEGO, Lafiya/UKAID Project, from 2018 – to February 2022.
Recently awarded with an Honorary Doctorate Degree by the Commonwealth University is a unique award that is specially reserved for personalities who have distinguished themselves in society through service, selflessness, and other outstanding contributions through which the lives of many have been touched positively.