I’ll deploy technology to tackle oil theft, Tinubu pledges

Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has promised to ensure maximum deployment of technology to curtail oil theft in the country.

Speaking during a town hall meeting with organised labour in Abuja, yesterday, he explained that the measure would monitor, protect pipelines and block theft of oil resources in the country.

The former Lagos State governor condemned those who receive stolen crude, saying, “if there is no receiver, there won’t be supplier.”

Tinubu further stated that his administration would have zero-tolerance to corruption by strengthening anti-corruption agencies, just as he urged organised labour to pitch its tent with him in the 2023 presidential election based on his track record in public service over the years.

The APC flagbearer listed unemployment, lack of credit system to allow workers own houses, poverty, challenges in the education sector and weak industrial base of the economy as what he would address, if voted in as President.

He said: “Today, the questions you all you must ask yourselves are: who can be trusted to accomplish all of these? The man who has done it before, or the man whose most lasting achievement as Vice President is the corrupt sale of national assets to his friends and cronies? Who has the better plan? The man whose blueprint guided the emergence of Lagos as fifth largest economy in Africa or the man whose greatest pride is the amount of money he managed to bury in sand while his state’s infrastructure decayed and its workers suffered endless hardship? The choice is yours.”

Further speaking on what stands him out, Tinubu said just like the labour leaders, he had been in the forefront of fighting the government for good governance all his life, a move for which he was detained and eventually forced into exile.

He added: “As organised labour, you have been at the forefront of the workers’ rights movement in Nigeria, championing economic fairness and the welfare of the average person, the weak and the forgotten. You have also been involved in the struggle for democracy and political rights. Your collective efforts breathe life into the democratic rights and economic ideals enshrined in our constitution.

“I can speak fondly of your impact on our nation because of my personal history on the front lines of the social justice movement.

“I may be running for president now, but I was not always in this position. Long before I started running for the presidency, I was running away from military dictators angered by my important role in protests against them and their efforts to vanquish our democratic aspirations,” he added.

On his plans if elected, Tinubu said his administration would make the monetary policies work for the workers and Nigerians, so they could have a good life.

He also said he would ensure the nation is massively industrialised to give more people better paying jobs, while also opening doors to more emerging sectors younger ones can harness.