The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has promised to create jobs for the unemployed and make credit available for business owners if elected as president in the 2023 general election.

Tinubu said his administration, if elected in the forthcoming presidential election, would empower Nigerians with the skills that would make them employable, assuring that the youths will no longer spend years in university due to lecturers’ strike action.

He stated that his pledge to Nigerians will remain a biding covenant.

The APC presidential standard bearer made the vow at the party’s campaign rally at Freedom Park in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Thursday.

“I make a social covenant with you today that the unemployed among you will get job. Those with no skill will be provided the relevant skill that would put food on their table. When we get to government, we will make soft loans available for market women and business owners,” Tinubu said.

On his plans for the people of Osun State, Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, stated that the state is highly blessed with diverse resources and should be a destination for business and tourism across the country, promising to help achieve this if he becomes the president.

He said: “Osun is a beautiful state filled with virtuous, industrious and welcoming people. We will support Osun to become a manufacturing, industrial, agricultural, and tourism paradise.

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“You have fertile soil, abundant mineral resources, and a rich culture and history capable of attracting tourists from across the world.

“A vote for me is a vote to develop all parts of this state and this country. Rural areas will not be forgotten but will be developed to support more economic activities and create better lives for the people.

“At the same time, our growing urban population – you city boys – will enjoy decent jobs and a living wage.”

Tinubu added: “Our farmers will be better equipped to feed the nation. In return, they will receive decent incomes with which they can better tend to their families in addition to tending to their land.

“Our educational reforms will equip talented youth with skills needed to be globally competitive. Our policies will open access to loans and business expertise to those wanting to start their own businesses.

“The bedrock of our national security shall be strengthened. We will better equip military units with tactical communications gear and all-terrain vehicles to give them greater communications and mobility to track down criminals, bandits and terrorists.

“We will upgrade our weapons systems and exploit aerial technological superiority to further identify, monitor and subdue the criminals, terrorists and bandits who would do harm to ordinary citizens.”

The APC presidential candidate further urged the people of Osun State not to be deceived by the “empty promises” of the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi respectively, saying both have nothing to offer.

While he said Atiku was only interested in stealing the nation’s resources and pocketing them for himself and his friends, Tinubu likened Obi to the unprofitable servant who buried his talents, saying the former governor of Anambra State failed to use the state’s resources to develop it.

Others at the rally were Governors Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), and Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); former Governors Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Gboyega Oyetola (Osun); and former APC Interim Chairman, Bisi Akande; among others.

The Star