I’ll triple Nigeria’s GDP to $1.5tn by 2030 – Pastor Bakare

Serving Overseer of Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, says he will triple the country’s Gross Development Product (GDP) to N1.5 trillion if elected Nigeria’s president.

Bakare said this in his official declaration to contest for presidency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja on Monday.

Bakare, who hinged his declaration on a four-point agenda of peace, progress, prosperity and possibilities, said he would launch the Nigerian Geoeconomic Development Plan (N-GDP) on day one of his inauguration as president.

This new plan according to Bakare would help triple the country’s GDP.

“The Prosperity Mandate will cater to our policy thrust on Economic Management and Infrastructure Delivery. We will achieve the Prosperity Mandate by launching the Nigerian Geoeconomic Development Plan (N-GDP) on day one of my inauguration as president.

“The Nigerian Geoeconomic Development Plan (N-GDP) is a new way of looking at our GDP; therefore, you would be right to refer to it as The New GDP. Guided by the N-GDP, we will rebuild Nigeria’s economy around six competitive geoeconomic zones, triple Nigeria’s GDP to $1.5 trillion by 2030, and industrialise Nigeria around the hub-and-spoke model of industrialisation.

“This will see the emergence of industrial cities in each geoeconomic zone made of several industrial clusters. The industrial clusters will in turn be linked to feeder hubs and enterprise zones in the respective regions. The N-GDP will guide our policies, institutions and investments across various sectors including Solid Minerals, Agriculture, Manufacturing, and SMEs,” he said.

He also said his administration would build a 3,000km superhighway from the North to the South having 10 lanes.

“Furthermore, as part of the Progress Mandate, on infrastructure delivery, we will align the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) with the Nigerian Geoeconomic Development Plan (N-GDP). We will consolidate ongoing developments in transportation by redirecting investments towards a systematic and multimodal transportation agenda.

“Through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), we will build a 10-lane 3,000km North-South superhighway which will be systematically linked to regional roads and subways feeding each geoeconomic zone.

“Still as part of our infrastructure delivery agenda, we will execute a decentralised, private sector-driven electricity reform agenda that will see the generation of up to 100,000MW of on-grid and off-grid electricity by 2030 as part of the Nigerian Geoeconomic Development Plan (N-GDP).

“We will do this by broadening the national energy mix and harnessing geoeconomic comparative advantages in energy generation including solar, hydro, nuclear, thermal, natural gas, biomass, wind and other energy sources.

“To attract competent investors, the entire electricity value chain from generation to transmission to distribution will be integrated and progressively decentralised to allow for competitive subnational investments in the sector. Parts of the world are light years ahead of Nigeria; there must at the very least be light in Nigeria,” he added.