THE NEW FACE OF NIGERIA

NATIONAL RESCUE MOVEMENT, NRM

The New Face of Nigeria

PREAMBLE

Nigeria, as a nation, is failing. All the ingredients that make a nation survive and succeed are receding in Nigeria. There is no sense of nationhood. In resignation, people cleave to their ethnic sentiments. There are no visible signs of development to measure against the massive inflow of resources the country has had over the years. Tired of waiting, the people provide for themselves, all the amenities the government should provide for them. Infrastructure has become derelict, with no maintenance system in place. Insecurity is at an all-time high. Horrid mass murders are become a defining signature in the polity. Impunity is on the rise. There is no consequence for bad behavior. There is increasing poverty. The door of corruption has opened wider. There is fear in the land of what may happen next. Insurgency and terrorism have persisted. Public servants rape the treasury for private gain. There is indolence, governmental inertia, systemic inactivity and a general sense of despair. The economy continues to bleed. Social tension is high and lawless behaviour has become regular and rampant. All the stress lines of our nation are at snapping point.

The mainstream political parties in Nigeria have shown a pathetic incapacity to tackle the multifarious problems facing the country, imbue the people with a balanced sense of humanism and re-engineer a milieu of security and well-being. Over the years, through action or inaction, the mainstream parties have failed and allowed our countrymen and women to wallow in hopelessness.

So much hope was invested in the PDP from 1999 to take our country to or surpass where its peers, who started out the journey of nationhood with us, are. Unfortunately, this hope was mindlessly dashed, as impunity and mis-governance, a lack of direction and inefficiencies were allowed to thrive. In 2015, Nigerians, in their numbers, having seen the failures of the PDP, did what was hitherto unthinkable and massively voted for the newly-engineered APC, with so much hope and promise in the integrity of its Presidential candidate and their commitment to the ideals of selfless nation-building. Alas! Nigerians went from frying pan to fire. Never before has there been so much division in our country. Large sections of the country were deliberately excluded from governance. The economy went into a tailspin, bringing in its trail high unemployment, poverty and hunger, youth despondency and unacceptable levels of criminality across the land. Social relations across ethnic groups became poisoned. Appointments and projects were skewed on narrow considerations. The political class, scratching its head, wondered what is had done with the trust of the people.

A group of concerned Nigerians, unhappy at the prevailing state of our nation, burning with patriotic fervor, and steady in their belief that with sacrifice and focus, they can engender a mass movement of the people to ask critical questions about how we are governed and why Nigeria has been left in the backwaters of development. In faith and resolve, they formed the National Rescue Movement, NRM, sought registration with the INEC, received registration and are steadily putting together the building blocks of a nation who destiny does not remain in the potential, but one whose people, in sweat but in brotherhood, assured that strength lies in togetherness, and are hewing out a new nation, where peace, justice, equity, egalitarianism come together through shared hard work to achieve a common prosperity for all.

In this booklet, in addition to the fuller adumbration in our Manifesto, we have enunciated the special steps, we shall employ in governance, which have not been tried before, as we pitch our efforts, in tune with other well-meaning stakeholders, towards rescuing our nation and setting it on the path of true progress, prodded by the productive exertions of the people to secure a shared prosperity.

INTRODUCTION

Nigeria has steadily been sliding away from the promise of its past into retrogression. All the achievements of the past, the hard work of our heroes, have been betrayed by a rapacious set of leaders who pilfer the common till for their private gains. Routine developmental indices, which other nations take for granted, are herculean to attain in Nigeria.

No segment of our society has been spared the debilitating effects of the mediocre performance of the Nigerian State. Leaders, in whom are reposed grave public trust, exploit their positions to shortchange the people, steal from the common treasury in different guises, and confer underservedadvantage on themselves, their relations and cronies.

The tremors of these irresponsiblebehaviours of leaders have been felt on a wide scale proportion. While it is conceded that a multi-cultural and pluralistic society like Nigeria would naturally have her stress-points and fault-lines, bad leadership has exacerbated the problems, magnifying our differences beyond what they really are, holding up our diversity as a sign of collective weakness instead of as a source of the strength of our nation, like other nations endowed like us.

The crushing poverty, the hopelessness, the crippling unemployment, the asphyxiating corruption caused by serial bad governance,have sapped the populace of the will to continue the sacrificial task of nation building. Today, Nigeria has the highest global percentage of children out of school; the largest internally displaced persons (IDPs) in a country not at war; 72% poverty level making it home to the highest number of poor people in the world; rising incidences of security threats ranging from insurgency to terrorism, from kidnappings to rampant murders, from herdsmen attacks to cattle rustling.Nigeria’s best, today, are moving out of the country in droves, with the result that most public institutions are ghosts of their former selves. Those who remain, have no faith in the system.

The concatenation of these problems has resulted in the current, strident separatist agitations, making people to drift towards their ethnic comfort zones, creating animosities among the multifarious groups constituting the nation and propelling the centrifugal pull of fragmentationof the Nigerian State. These animosities, properly analysed, are contrived by the elites and political office holders to continue to subjugate the people under an oppressive climate, and distract the people from the necessary introspection and action about the few that has cornered the resources of the nation. Instead of the contest of ethnic loyalties, the real contest should be the struggle to create an environment where every Nigerian is allowed to realize his full potentials; where the gap between the haves and the haves-not are drastically reduced; where people will see beyond the vortex of lies and deceits by politicians to realize that the greater populace are played as pawns on the chess board of power.

This whirlwind of issues, like separatist agitations and the high level of crimes and criminalitycurrently assailing the polity arose in the first place as a result of the mismanagement of the nation’s resources and unrelenting misgovernance which have rendered the hardworking and patriotic people of Nigeria paupers.This state of affairs calls for urgent action, the magnitude of such that will rescue the country and its people from the morass in which it is currentlyembroiled.

This is no doubt, given the extreme and vested positions of the dramatis personae, that it is going to be difficult; but it is inescapable that the Nigerian State will have to be re-invented. It is a task that must be done. All that is required are innovative ideas and the courage to change the approach, style and the country’s leadership recruitment process. These three requirements are necessary and we must get it right.

There is no better time to do this than now.

The National Rescue Movement, NRM, a new political party registered by the INEC, is that platform for the realization of the huge promise of the Nigerian State; the re-invention of its wheel of progress; the rediscovery of the binding fibresof unity and mutual respect, which the people of the country once shared.

The party offers itself as the New Face of Nigeria.

NAME

“What is in a name” a sage once asked? The National Rescue Movement, NRM, is not just a political party. It is a mass movement of a wide spectrum of the people of this beloved country, who are genuinely unhappy at the rate of Nigeria’s downward slope, and believe that withselfless exertions, sacrifice, commitment to the ideals of building a nation where justice reigns, a nation where we work to make progress together; who believe that the country has wobbled long enough, and that what is required for this pervasive regression of Nigeria to continue is for good people to do nothing. They have, therefore, stepped forward, in sacrifice, to exert their best to rescue this country from the stranglehold of bad leadership.

This party reckons with nostalgia that this generation of leaders who has brought so much misery and stagnation to Nigeria enjoyed the best of what Nigeria had to offer: peace and security; freedom to live and prosper anywhere; economic boom and comfort; quality and free education; scholarships into competitive schools, and a sense of balance and well-being. It was the legacy bequeathed to them by the nation’s founding fathers: the legacy when a man from Sokoto became the Mayor of Enugu; when a man from Ondo represented Shinkafi in the Sokoto State House of Assembly; when an Igbomanwas the Councilor for RijiyaDoruwa in Sokoto Local Government Council; a time when a Fulani man was a Councilor in Shagamu Local Government Council in Ogun State..

This is the legacy this crop of leaders has betrayed and in the process inflamed strife and divisions; ethnic tensions; separatist agitations, etc. The country needs to be rescued from this gale of bad governance into the light of purposeful and good governance, and help restore the legacy of our heroes past.

LOGO

The logo of the party is a honey bee embossed on circular white background inside a golden colour circumference. The honey bee represents the rich natural resources of Nigeria and the productive potentials of its people. The white circle represents peace and hope while the golden line represents the honey produced by the bee signifying a shared prosperity.

The question is: why a honey bee?

The bee is a symbol of unity, brotherhood and teamwork which protect the product of their collective labour while intensely repelling any intrusion into their hard work. They discourage adversaries from invading and repudiating the results of their toils.

The bee is known throughout generations for its health and medicinal values, the core requirement for the sustenance of life on earth. No ethnic or religious group holds any abhorrent interpretation of the bee. Even when it stings, the bee stings out of responsibility, after a considered decision that it needs to protect its enclave.

The bee is more honoured than other animals not because it labours, but because it labours for others. The bee does not consume its honey. It is the breadwinner, which, with diligence, delivers prosperity in the form of honey which is the golden colour circumference of the NRM logo, the result of its productive hard work.

Bees do not only supply humankind with delicious honey; they also carry pollen from flower to flower,showing wisdom in its toils, representing fertility, growth and the sustenance of plant life on earth. Bees are the chief-workers of cross-pollination and are quite efficient in their work, obeying constituted authority (the queen bee) in the discharge of their duties. Bees also representpurity, the golden era.Bees work without rest; and without hesitation, give their lives to protect their hive in which the honey, the fruit of their labour, is encased.

The National Rescue Movement, NRM, stands for all these attributes of the honey bee. The Party, therefore, represents hard work and diligence; productivity and shared prosperity; selfless service; loyalty to the cause of the nation; fertility and growth; efficiency in labour and will work to take Nigeria to that ideological period of purity, when unity and brotherhood, peace, security and economic progress marked the promise of a nation emerging into greatness, before bad leadership re-directed the arc of its destiny.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

NRM is a clarion call to duty. Rescuing Nigeria from its present decadent and comatose state is a task we must collectively undertake, otherwise future generations and posterity will have questions for us: why a country so richly endowed struggled through a miasma of poverty and under-development.

If the state of the Nation today is all that the Nigerian politician can give to this country, then, there is need for soul searching. NRM is a child of circumstance, born to fulfill the collective destiny of a people; it is a culmination of the efforts at restoration by a group of patriotic Nigerians under the leadership of Senator Saidu Mohammed Dansadau, to provide a platform of true service, anchored on the fear of God and duty to nation.

As a duly registered and bona-fide political party in Nigeria, NRM is set to change the approach, style and leadership recruitment process in the Nigerian political space. If good governance is to be entrenched in Nigeria, NRM believes that all segments of the Nation State - traditional rulers, religious leaders, professional and Trade Union groups - shall be involved in perfecting thevision, leadership recruitment and in governance. Furthermore, the NRM would actively leverage on the unique perspicacity of women and youth in the leadership selection process and strategically place them in sensitive leadership positionsto increase their stake in the nation.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE PARTY:

v  Use Political Power to serve God and Humanity.

Ø  The bane of Nigeria’s political and public life is that practitioners see public office only as a means for personal aggrandizement. Thus, they use their offices to confer undue advantage to themselves and their cronies, without regard to others, who are also creatures or servants of the Almighty creator. The NRM believes that political power is a vehicle for solid service to God and to serve humanity. The party will always insist that those who attain political power through it shall leave legacies that cannot be diminished in adding value to humanity. 

v  Respect for the Rule of Law Against Politics of Impunity.

Ø  Under NRM, the law shall rule supreme. What has been enacted as the guiding codes of the nation shall be respected and rigorously implemented. The NRM will ensure that the laws of the land prevail in governing the affairs of the country. The law will be the pre-eminent determinant of human, social, political, economic and governmental conduct. Impunity will have no place under a government run by the NRM. Where people in positions of trust abuse their offices, the law will take its course; no more, no less.

v  Politics of Credibility Against Politics of Deception.

Ø  Politicians have so serially abused trust. The populace has nothing but despair and a deep distrust of the rhetoric of politicians. NRM shall always be seen to represent integrity, honesty and credibility. The NRM will say it as it is, no matter how difficult, and will take the people as equal stakeholders who must be aware of the performance of the government and the standing of the country. There will be no room for any kind of deception.

v  Selfless Service Against Politics of Self-Enrichment.

Ø  Service and productivity shall be the fulcrum of the NRM vision of delivering a shared prosperity for all Nigerians. To take the country to where it should be, those who drive the affairs of the country must simply know that they must give sacrificial service. It will not be about self, but about what the self can give for all. Ostentatious living, vain-glorious luxury and obscene display of material things shall not have a place under NRM. Discipline, prudence, responsibility and modesty shall be the operative attributes of a government run by the NRM.

v  Politics of Respect for the Ordinary Citizens Against Politics of Patronage of the Elite.

Ø  As the people who put the government in place, the NRM shall accord a pride of consideration and respect for the ordinary people of this country. The interests of the masses, in opposition to the whims of the elite, shall be the guiding principles upon which the NRM shall operate. The things that concern the masses, the things that keep them awake at night shall be the pre-occupation of a government run by the NRM. The party shall demonstrably, be a friend of the masses.

v  Politics of National Integration Against Politics of Exclusion and Division.

Ø  The hues and cries of marginalization are strident across the country today. NRM shall give all parts and all people of this country an assuring sense of belonging. All shall live in peace in any part and shall have his hard-work and exertions rewarded. There shall be equity in the distribution of projects and appointments and the same demands of discipline, prudence, responsibility and modesty will be made from all.

v  Politics of Reconstruction Against Politics of Destruction.

Ø  If well-managed, Nigeria has the resources and the human capacity to move quickly to a first-world country. The NRM shall work assiduously to achieve this. The party shall make the resource of this country, human and material, to work for this country. It shall urgently improve infrastructure across the country and enable the people gain the confidence to be a productive part of nation building. The party shall particularly encourage self-belief in development. Innovators, entrepreneurs and budding talents shall be encouraged to show the world the stuff our country is truly made of.

v  Politics of Ideas Against Politics of brigandage.

Ø  NRM is in a hurry to take the country to the next level. It shall harvest ideas, abundant in all parts of the country, about how to move fast to achieve this. It would not be attracted to or tempted with ephemeral achievements. It will be driven by action, and not febrile prancing about the stage. An NRM government will be deliberate in its policies, demonstrate rigour its engagements, and leave no doubt about what it intends to achieve, how it intends to do it, and the results of its undertakings.

v  Politics of Shared Prosperity Against Politics of Stagnation and Decadence.

Ø  NRM’s vision is to achieve sustainable development for all people of this country. It will be a prosperity that all will share in, and all will be part of its attainment. Any and every person, irrespective of status or circumstance of birth, who, in sincerity desires to contribute his God-given talent, shall be welcome on board. No longer shall the country be allowed to drift or stagnate. All shall bake the cake to partake of its sharing.

Ø  In sum, an NRM Government shall be:

·         Anchored on Justice and Fair Play;

·         Run on Team Work and Productivity to Achieve the Desired Prosperity for all.

·         All Inclusive Against Exclusive Tendencies

APPROACH AND STYLE

To bring about the desired change capable of meeting the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians and building a nation of the dreams of the founding fathers, novel ideas, sweeping innovations, courageous and unwavering determination must all come together to change this failed political system. To achieve this, the National Rescue Movement, NRM, plans to introduce the following into Nigeria’s body polity:

(i)                            NRM is resolute to drastically minimize the use of money in the nation’s politics. The party’s activities shall be driven on shared sacrifice and self-help.Aspiring candidates for elections at all levels of governance will not have to spend a fortune to fly the flag of the Party at any election cycle. The assets that will be considered by the party in fielding candidates shall be credibility and mass acceptability. As a matter of fact, any successful candidate found guilty of bribing party members during the party’s primaries shall be disqualified.

(ii)                         The present NRM Constitution and manifesto are transitional. Our new approach shall necessitate a more robust, wide-spread interface involving all strata of the society - professional and vocational groups;trade unions;traditional and religious leaders; the youth; women; the civil society; and other important, sometimes unsung heroes and heroines, of our national evolution. This shall be done in the continual improvements of our Constitution and Manifestoto enable each group make informed inputs on the aspect of national life affecting its areas of engagement. This will ensure that the activities and policies of the NRM government will be sector-driven, people-oriented and an outcome of a needs-assessment in contra-distinction to the current traditional political party manifestoes that pander to the partisan interests of politicians only; or are so general and vaguely-couched as to meet the real challenges of any specific sector, let alone nation building.

(iii)                       Furthermore, the NRM plans to involve these groups in the leadership recruitment process, and while in government, to leverage on the institutional capacities of these groups in policy formulation and legislations to ensure the implementation of the vision of the party for the nation. This will be done through periodic interactions with the different professional, trade union, religious and traditional groups directly with the political hierarchies of the nation, in order to get feedback on the state of the nation, appraise the performance of government and receive suggestions for improvement. Special attention will be paid to the involvement of Youth and women. The rich agricultural potentials, an activation of the natural resources of the country and the untapped effervescent technological abilities of our people shall be the building blocks of a great economic re-awakening.

(iv)                        NRM believes that a substantial portion of the prevailing poverty among the populace include the unconscionableusurpation of the powers and resources of Local Governments by State Governors. The party shall, as a matter of priority, ensure that Local Government Councils exercise their powers and have control over their resources, in order to meaningfully impact the masses who bear the undiluted brunt of the neglect of governmentresponsibilities by the State and Federal governments.

(v)                           Our health plan is that no public officer as defined by the Constitution shall go abroad for medical treatment. The only exceptions shall be life-threatening ailments which cure and management no facility in Nigeria can handle. The plan is to imbue an acute sense of urgency about creating and improving our health facilities and equipping our hospitals to the standards of the countries our leaders go to for medical tourism. Each of the six geo-political zones shall host at least one advanced health institution, with state of the art facilities and management. The party believes that Nigeria has the resources to do this. This will attract Nigerians in diaspora, especially the many, highly-gifted health professionals of Nigerian origin, to return to contribute to what will become obvious as genuine efforts at nation building.

(vi)                        On the Education front, children and wards of public office holders shall, by deliberate policy, attend public schools in order to channel government attention to the state of Nigeria’s public schools.

(vii)                      An NRM government will pursue transparent governance. Any government at any level controlled by NRM will set up a public online/internet platform where:

1. all government awarded contracts are stated

2. the names of the contractors stated

3. the location of the contracts stated

4. the status of implementation stated

This process will help citizens monitor and report on contracts that affect them.

LEADERSHIP RECRUITMENT PROCESS

a.       NRM plans a leadership recruitment process which will involve consultations with traditional rulers, religious leaders, professional and Trade Union groups, youth and women groups and politicians.

b.      The Party considers the quality of local governments’ management important in the overall vision of impacting the greater number of the populace. The party plans to field, as candidates for Local Governments chairmanship and councillorship elections and States Houses of Assembly, persons who are of sufficient exposure, experience and maturity, from either the public or the private sector, retired or still in service and the academia. Sponsorship of candidates to the Senate shall follow the same pattern.

c.       The party will utilize the drive and uncorrupted energy of youths, between the ages of 30-45 years, in fielding them for Gubernatorial and House of Representatives elections to bring dynamism, verve and zeal in service to this cadre of political leadership.

d.      The National Executive Committee of the Party, being the body empowered to make guidelines, rules and regulations on nomination of candidates, shall make a resolution creating a 3-tier system of candidates’ nomination for executive positions. This procedure shall involve short-listing of qualified potential candidates for these categories of offices, reflecting the geo-political configuration of the nation, State, or the Local Government as the case may be, and keeping in view the popularity of the candidate. At every point, the choice of the people, in sync with the party’s criteria for such political office, shall fly the party’s flag.

e.       The main credentials this party will consider in sponsoring candidates for elections at various levels of government is identifying people who truly believe that public office is a call to service – to serve God and humanity measured on the principle of doing right to all manner of people and the greatest good to the greatest number. There will be serious emphasis on a process that will ensure a substantial reduction of use of money in the party primaries, and a deliberate policy of candidacy of credibility, grass-roots orientation and mass acceptance. This will discourage patronage, thuggery and impunity.

INCENTIVES FOR JOINING THE NRM

1.       The Pioneer Leaders who signed the Party’s INEC Registration Forms shall, by guidelines to be issued by the National Executive Committee, be awarded 12^1/2% bonus during the party’s primaries for any elective office.

2.       Founding Members and first fifty (50) registered Members in any Poling Unit shall be placed as Platinum Members and shall, by guidelines to be made by the National Executive Committee, be awarded 10% bonus.

3.       51-100 on the register of members in any Polling Unit will enjoy a 7^1/2% bonus.

4.       100-150 on the Register of Members in any Polling Unit will enjoy 5% bonus.

5.       150-200 on the Register of Members in any Polling Unit will enjoy 2^1/2% bonus.

6.       The revenue generated by the party from sundry sources shall be distributed to all organs of the party on the basis of 10% each to the National, State, Local Government and Ward levels respectively; while the Polling Unit Organs will receive 60%. Of the 60% earmarked for the Polling Unit level, 30% of its shall be for political activities such as mobilization, political awareness and such like occupations, while 70% of it shall be expended on community self-help projects. The intention is for the Polling Units to act as a Community Based Development Association.

7.       The Party shall accord special recognition to the families of the Nation’ founding Fathers. To this end, it shall accord this category of Nigerianspriviledges to honour the sacrifices of their forebears who gave themselves for the country.

The National Rescue Movement, NRM, truly wants to work hard to earn the trust and loyalty of the Nigerian people, and through words, actions and example in leadership, secure the general acceptance of the populace to identify with and own the grand visions of this party for the country.

OTHER PARTY POLICIES

1.       The budget of any government being controlled by the NRM, be it Federal, State or Local Government, shall be tailored such that more resources are allocated for the development of the rural areas and the quality improvement of lives of citizens in those areas. To achieve this, the NRM shall make a deliberate practice of allocating 70% of the capital budget to be devolved to the federating units to be spent on priority projects of the Zone. It shall practice equitable fiscal federalism.

2.       The National Rescue Movement, NRM, shall sanction any member of the Party who attempts to or rigs any election in favourof the Party.

3.       Contest for elections are between people who are expressing their legitimate right under the constitution. NRM shall ensure a level-playing ground, objectivity, fairness and justice in the conduct of internal elections. The Party regards all contestants as friends who aspire for positions and not as enemies, as between themselves.

4.       There shall be National caucus of the Party which shall comprise of National Chairman of the Party as Chairman, National Secretary, the Deputy National Chairman, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Vice President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, F.C.T Minister, Presidential Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senate President, Speaker House of Representative, Senate Leader and House Leader who are members of the Party. Similar caucuses shall be established at State and Local Government Council levels. All the caucuses shall meet monthly, to deliberate on policies proposed by the executive arm of Government either by way of bills or by executive action before they are released to the public.

5.       NOT TOO YOUNG TO RUN

In line with the Not Too Young To Run policy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the youths should be given a place of pride in the scheme of things

6.       NOT TOO POOR TO RUN

The NRM shall abide by its policy of Not Too Poor To Run in order to encourage more progressive, humble and honest people that desire to hold political offices. To this end, the NRM shall peg its nomination fees at the barest minimum possible, in relation to other parties.

7.       TOO DIVERSE BUT POSSIBLE TO UNITE

NRM BELIEVES THAT Nigeria’s diversity is her strength. It shall, therefore, practice”Unity in diversity”, whereby the various units shall emphasise the strength of their being while the fabrics of national unity shall remain pre-eminent.

We believe that we are the New Face of Nigeria; a Party on a Mission to Rescue the Nation.