Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the All Progressives Congress (APC) remains the only party anchored on social democracy, protection, and mobility, especially for the poor.

Osinbajo said this during the inauguration of the APC Legal Compliance Committee at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday.

According to a statement issued by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, the Vice President said the committee was crucial to the achievement of the party’s electoral ambitions in the 2023 elections both at federal and state levels.

He urged the members of the committee to be proactive and remain committed to this critical assignment.

“Ours is the only party anchored on social democracy, social protection, that is, social mobility for the poor, and justice for the wronged.

“I am, therefore, glad that we have here an assembly of very committed members of the party, who, by their calling as lawyers, will be able to offer tremendous value for the party through protection of its interests at every step of this electoral process.

“Those of you that have worked with us in the build-up to the 2015 and the 2019 general elections know that the proactive approach we adopted, especially through the ear-on-the-ground work of the Presidential Legal Team, has provided us crucial head-start in tackling some of the challenges that we were confronted with,” Osinbajo stated.

Osinbajo said the party’s manifesto in 2014, 2015, and 2023 contained the most detailed social investment policy.

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He said in 2015 APC became the first government to make budgetary provision of N500 billion for a comprehensive Social Investment Programme

“Feeding 9.5 million children in our Home-grown School Feeding Programme, providing jobs for 500,000 unemployed graduates through our N-Power programme.

“Many deployed to primary schools in the hinterland as teachers, others trained under the N-TECH, N-BUILD.

“Our Government Enterprise and Empowerment (GEEP) programme provided two million informal traders with small loans via its TraderMoni, MarketMoni and FarmerMoni schemes.

“We also built up the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme.

“Along with the World Bank and local communities we complied a register of the poorest Nigerians and began a programme of giving them a total of about N20,000 monthly per household and introduced livelihood support,” the Vice President added.

Osinbajo listed the responsibilities of the committee to include ensuring that all internal structures of the party and external engagements of the party are conducted in accordance with established operating procedures and the law.

He said it also entailed insulating the campaign of the party at all levels against breaches of rules, regulations, guidelines, and laws by ensuring strict compliance thereof.

“And to develop compliance checklists and protocols, conduct trainings for campaign personnel, and prepare compliance reports for the party, among others,” he said.

The  Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the Minister of State, Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo, and the APC National Legal Adviser who is Coordinator of the Committee, Ahmad El-Marzuq, attended the event.

The Star