The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Mr Adams Oshiohmole said Wednesday that the party would establish an Institute of Progressive Studies to promote the manifesto and ideology of the party.
Speaking to State House correspondents after a meeting between members of the National Working Committee of the party and President Muhammadu Buhari in his office in Abuja, Oshiohmole said the institution would be established to propagate the ideals of the party – addressing poverty and recreating the Nigerian middle class.
“We also shared with the president our commitment to build Institute for Progressives Studies because the problem of Nigeria is that people belong to various political parties.
“They don’t even understand the ideology of that party if any. Some are not even familiar with the manifesto and there is no conversation about how appropriate or inappropriate those manifestos are.
“And you find that people holding very high positions in government in both legislative and executive and even some party leaders may not even be aware of what we stand for.
“So, we told the president we are going to build Institute for Progressive Studies so that people will understand what defines us; what is the essence of progressive politics – basically about social democracy.
“So, our party must be seen to be pro-poor, putting policies in place that will lift our people out of poverty and re-create the Nigerian middle class. And unless you re-create the Nigeria middle class you are not going to have a stable, peaceful society. The tragedy for now is that, over the period, people are either very poor or very rich,” he said.
Oshiohmole also told journalists that the APC-led federal government would deliver on its promises to the citizens in the next four years.
He said the party would work hand-in-hand with the president and the National Assembly in addressing the menace of extreme poverty in the country. “Now, the president has to provide leadership, working with the National Assembly and the APC leadership to see how we can, over the next four years, deliver so that the current situation of extremely poor and extremely rich is bridged by re-creating the middle class,’’ he said.
Oshiomhole said the party also presented its financial report for the 2019 general elections to the president.
