•The ACCORD Party Aspirant Reveals
Professor Christopher Imumolen is a renowned Education advocate and advocate for youth empowerment. His many achievements in Human and capacity building has earned him international recognition and awards at home and abroad. Prof Christopher has decided to bring home his selfless move to participate in the change mission to revamp the polity and economy of Nigeria He is contesting for the post of President, under the Accord Party and has decided to stand shoulder to shoulder with the big wigs in the race.
Prof Christopher spoke to City People at the official declaration of Dr Akin Ogunbiyi in Osun last week and revealed his plan for Nigeria. Read excerpts
Let’s meet you and have you share with us your motivation to contest the presidency?
Okay, my name is Professor Christopher Imumolen. I think we are in a time where every sincere Nigerian must begin to look into leadership because Nigeria is at a point where have never been. We are at a critical point, if Nigeria were to be a company, by now we would have declared bankruptcy or sold its entity to those we have borrowed from, and use some of our revenue to service our debt. So it’s a critical time for every sincere Nigerian who believes he has what it takes to rescue Nigeria, revive Nigeria and resuscitate the nation.
So my coming out for the presidency is solely to help put back Nigeria on the map of prosperous nations in the world. That passion is there.
Our fathers in their own time have been able to enjoy the little things they could enjoy, you can see the youths today; no education, our roads are bad, there is a high level of insecurity. So it’s important that every Nigerian who believes he has what it takes should come out en masse and see what we can do with leadership.
What will be your direction, considering the cumbersome nature of our challenges in Nigeria?
Insecurity will be paramount. Insecurity by itself is a major crisis that affects other areas. It is the major cause of the economic downturn. So if you want to combat insecurity, it’s not just by equipping the military alone. It’s by fighting those devices that have made our youths restless to go into crime. One of those things is the reward system, we have to start working on our reward system to make sure that those who have served our country are properly compensated.
We have to motivate the youths, we have to create employment, and we have to make sure that we digitalize the economy. We have to industrialise the economy, we have to create support for SMEs. We have to provide electricity for SMEs. There are so many things we need to look at to ensure that Nigerians begin to live comfortably because we only exist, we do not live. So we need to look at things that will create comfort for Nigerians. When Nigerians begin to live comfortably, believe me, they will begin to shun violence and other negative vices.
So part of the things we are going to be doing is to look into the critical factors that Nigeria needs to survive with, and we start producing it. This is not the time for anyone to vie for political position with the mindset of pilfering or making money or stealing, because there’s virtually nothing to steal. We are now living in a country where our children have been positioned to pay for what has been borrowed. So we need sincere people who have a sincere heart. People who see Nigerians as their brothers and sisters who will be able to fix the problem. That’s’ what we need.
Why the choice of the Accord Party?
Nigerians are tired of PDP and APC because they are one. Many people even call them APDC, because if you look at those who are APC leaders today, they are former members of the PDP. They are one. Nigerians are tired and are looking for a new breed of parties, and individuals. Nigerians are even not looking at parties but individuals now.
Accord Party represents the hope of Nigerians. It’s the party that will bring the people together in one accord because what we need now is national integration so that the Igbo man will see the Yoruba and Itsekiri as his brother. The Fulani will not kill a Yoruba man because he feels they are from a different origin. We are one.
Tell us a bit about your background.
I am a professor, I am academia and I’m also an oil and gas expert. I am the first African to establish three Universities in the world. I am the only African whose name is in the world book of greatest in the UK. I am young. Most of our leaders today started to lead while they are young. I have a lot of things I have done. I have provided scholarships to 500,000 Nigerians since 2009 till date. What I want to do is not new because I have been doing it in my own way. Between 2016 and 2019, I have provided empowerment to 6000 Nigerians, and that brought my name into the world book of greatness.
We have been doing that because we feel the pain of Nigeria. And one of the major reasons for going into governance is ti impact more people. If your personal fund can be able to impact one million people, with governance you can impact 200 million people. That’s why we are going into this, and that’s what we are going to do.
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