President Bola Tinubu will make the protection of lives and property a top priority should he win the forthcoming presidential election scheduled for January 16, 2027, the All Progressives Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC) announced on Tuesday in Abuja. To achieve that objective, the party pledged to recruit 28,000 additional military personnel and 50,000 police officers to strengthen Nigeria's security architecture.
Beyond security, the APC administration under President Tinubu outlined plans to deliver better quality and more affordable living standards for Nigerians, alongside progress in energy, infrastructure, and economic growth, as well as effective and accountable governance.
Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment and Deputy Director of the Directorate of Manifesto and Policy Development of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, made the declaration at an event themed 'Transiting from Reforms to Shared Prosperity'. The party also committed to completing the establishment and equipping of four new Army Divisions in Makurdi, Ilorin, Jalingo, and Benin City, while sustaining intelligence-led kinetic operations against insurgents and kidnapping networks to degrade and dismantle their operating bases.
To combat kidnappers who have turned Nigeria's forests into criminal hideouts, the ruling party promised to deploy trained Forest Guards, Agro-Rangers, and Mining Marshals to safeguard agricultural belts, farming communities, grazing routes, national forest reserves, and mineral deposits. Dr. Oduwole stated that the APC administration planned to make Nigeria a fortress where everyone would live happily to actualize their potentials without any form of fear.
In his address, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President, urged Nigerians to study the past and current manifestoes of the ruling APC and judge the party by the promises it has kept since 2023 when it assumed power. He acknowledged that the reforms had put real pressure on households, adding that the people living through it deserve to be heard. 'Nobody should have to pretend that life is easy at the moment,' he said.
Gbajabiamila defended President Tinubu's decision to act, saying Tinubu confronted the subsidy burden and a distorted foreign exchange system when he took responsibility for the country in 2023. According to the Chief of Staff, leaving those problems untouched would have continued to weaken Nigeria's ability to invest in the future. He defended Tinubu for acting with courage and conviction to remove the subsidy and reform the foreign exchange market to serve Nigeria better.
'The difference between a politician and a leader is that while a politician thinks about the next election, a leader thinks about the vision for the next generation. And that is exactly what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has demonstrated,' Gbajabiamila said.
The 2027 manifesto rests on four pillars: a secure and resilient nation; a better quality and more affordable life for every Nigerian; energy, infrastructure and economic growth; and effective and accountable governance. These are tied to eight priority areas of the Renewed Hope Agenda, which will be carried out on four foundations: macroeconomic stability, the rule of law, institutional capability, and national cohesion.
By 2031, the document commits to power generation scaled towards 10,000 megawatts, annual economic growth of 6 per cent, and youth unemployment and out-of-school children both halved. It also promises 20,000 additional teachers and health insurance expanded from more than 23 million enrollees to 40 per cent of Nigerians. Primary health centres would function in at least 90 per cent of facilities, up from the current 53 per cent. The government further committed to building 200,000 homes under the Tinubu Mass Social Housing Scheme, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) mortgages, and licensed private developers, tracked on a public dashboard. Gbajabiamila also said seven million additional electricity meters would be installed.
He said the document would expose the government's own record to public inspection. 'The manifesto commits us to publishing targets, identifying those responsible and reporting progress to the public. Citizens should be able to see where delivery is succeeding and where it is falling short,' he said.
Gbajabiamila said the party would ask for the electorate's mandate in 2027 and would earn it. 'A party asking to continue in government must be prepared to answer to the people whose mandate it seeks. The child studying tonight should have a fair chance of becoming the professional she hopes to be. The man opening his workshop tomorrow should be able to grow beyond the struggle to keep it open. Their ambitions deserve a country organised to help them succeed,' he stated.
Dele Alake, spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and Minister of Solid Minerals, said the President removed the fuel subsidy and unified the foreign exchange market at a political cost to himself. 'Regardless of the political consequences, or even the President's own political situation and aspirations, he carried out genuine structural reforms,' he said. Alake praised Tinubu for undertaking many reforms to improve the Nigerian economy and take it to a new pedestal, boasting that no Nigerian leader has ever effected the kind of radical reforms that the administration has introduced since 2023.
'I challenge anyone with a different opinion to come for a debate because I have been a participant observer. Since 1960 till date, no Nigerian leader has undertaken the kind of radical reforms to reposition the economy than the Tinubu administration,' Alake boasted at the event.
Alake alleged that powerful interests had exploited the subsidy regime and were resisting its removal. 'It takes a man of courage, a man of grit, brains and brawn, to withstand the pressure of the cabal, which would fight back, and they are fighting back over the removal of fuel subsidy,' he said.
On the exchange rate, Alake alleged that some people with connections to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or top government officials obtained millions of dollars at the official rate. 'In the twinkle of an eye, they would become billionaires while sitting in their backyards, making no contribution to production in the economy to shore up the naira. And, of course, the result, as you all knew, was a free fall,' he said.
Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, who chaired the APC 2027 Manifesto, stated that Nigeria has been recording positive economic growth since President Tinubu came to office in 2023. However, Bagudu noted that despite the progress made, more work was needed to drive the benefits to Nigerian households.
'But, as we all know, even before anybody tells him, Mr. President acknowledges that we have done well. However, until we deliver and ensure that every Nigerian feels the impact of prosperity, especially hardworking Nigerians and those who need support, we still have work to do,' Bagudu said.
He recalled how Tinubu, during his campaign in Zamfara State, directed a State House official to give money to a struggling carrot seller, citing it as evidence of the President's concern for ordinary Nigerians.
'So, Mr. President, without being influenced by any outsider, said we should confront our reality and address these challenges. As I have said, he was not concerned about the next election but about prosperity of Nigeria and Nigerians,' Bagudu said.
Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information, answered critics who say only a few Nigerians benefit from the reforms. 'When the road between Abuja and Kano is being constructed, I am not aware that anybody needs to show his ID card to prove that he belongs to the APC, is a rich man or belongs to a particular class before he can use it,' he said.
On security, Idris said travelers on the Abuja-Kaduna Road no longer have to ask whether bandits are still operating there. 'Today, nobody asks such questions. You take your car from here to Kano without asking whether terrorists, bandits, kidnappers or whoever was operating along the road is still there. This was not the situation before,' he said.
He pointed to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). 'So, if you are looking for an example of Nigerians benefiting from these reforms, the 1.6 million young men and women and their parents are there. Nobody asks questions about their political affiliation,' he said.
Idris added that the Financial Action Task Force had delisted Nigeria from its grey list, and that headline and food inflation were both declining. 'That is why we are saying today that, yes, we have laid the foundation for reforms, and we are progressively moving towards a period of prosperity. As I said, by 2031, it will be almost impossible for anybody to reverse this course,' he said.
He also appealed to the media. 'You do not have to like the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. You do not have to like him, but all of us must like Nigeria,' he said.