Four pillars. One plan to reset Nigeria’s economy, security, education and governance so the country works for every Nigerian.
Nigeria is a country of hardworking people, abundant resources and enormous potential. Yet too many Nigerians work hard without getting ahead.
Resetting the economy means changing the systems that make it unnecessarily expensive to live, produce, move goods, run a business and create jobs.
We will focus on three things.
The cost of living is affected by more than the price of goods at the market.
Poor infrastructure, unreliable energy and expensive transportation add costs at every stage—from production to the final price paid by the consumer.
We will focus on reducing these underlying costs so that economic growth translates into better living standards for Nigerians.
Infrastructure should do more than exist. It should enable economic activity.
We will prioritise infrastructure that connects farms to markets, businesses to customers, workers to opportunities and production centres to the wider economy.
We will measure success not simply by kilometres of roads constructed, but by what those investments achieve: shorter journeys, lower logistics costs, increased investment and greater economic activity.
The government should enable enterprise, not create unnecessary friction.
We will simplify interactions between citizens, businesses and government, improve coordination between public institutions and use technology to eliminate unnecessary duplication.
Our principle is simple: Tell the Government Once. Information legitimately supplied to one government institution should not have to be repeatedly supplied to others where government systems can securely share it.
In Oyo State, infrastructure planning has increasingly focused on connecting economic activity rather than treating individual projects in isolation.
Road investments have been used to connect communities, markets and economic zones, improve movement across the state and open new areas to investment.
The Reset Agenda will take the lessons from what has worked, examine what can work at national scale and apply them to Nigeria’s larger economic challenges.
Nigerians should be able to live, work, travel and build their livelihoods without fear.
But security cannot depend only on responding after lives have been lost or communities attacked. A functioning security system must be able to gather intelligence, coordinate effectively, respond quickly and learn from every incident.
Resetting security means building a system that is intelligence-led, responsive and accountable.
We will focus on three things.
The best security response is the incident that is prevented.
We will strengthen intelligence gathering and information sharing so that threats can be identified earlier and the appropriate security agencies can act before they escalate.
This must include stronger links between communities, security agencies and government. Local information matters, but it becomes useful only when there is a system capable of receiving it, assessing it and acting on it.
Nigeria has multiple security and emergency institutions, but having many agencies does not automatically produce an effective security system.
When an incident occurs, responsibility must be clear. Agencies must be able to communicate with one another, information must reach the right people quickly, and the appropriate response must be mobilised without unnecessary delay.
We will strengthen coordination, interoperable communication and response systems so that Nigerians can get help when they need it.
Every major security incident should leave the system better prepared for the next threat.
We will strengthen processes for reviewing serious incidents, identifying what failed, establishing responsibility and ensuring that lessons lead to operational improvements.
Security institutions must be accountable not only for responding to threats, but for continually improving how they protect Nigerians.
In Oyo State, the Makinde administration developed a security architecture that combines the 615 toll-free emergency line, a central control room, CCTV infrastructure and coordination among security agencies.
The purpose is to create a system through which information can be received, assessed and passed to the appropriate responders rather than leaving citizens to determine which agency to contact during an emergency.
The Reset Agenda will build on lessons from this approach while addressing the much larger coordination, intelligence and operational challenges involved in securing Nigeria.
Every Nigerian child should have the opportunity to learn, develop useful skills and build a productive future.
But getting children into school is only part of the challenge. They must also be learning. Teachers need the support and tools to teach effectively, and what students learn must prepare them for the world they will enter.
Resetting education means building a system that focuses on learning, access and relevant skills.
We will focus on three things.
Education cannot be measured only by enrolment, classrooms built or examinations passed.
Children should acquire strong foundational skills in literacy and numeracy early enough to support everything else they will learn.
We will strengthen the measurement of learning outcomes so that parents, teachers, education managers and the government can see where children are learning, where they are falling behind and where intervention is needed.
The question will not simply be “Are our children in school?” It will also be “Are our children learning?”
Millions of Nigerian children remain outside the education system, with the challenge particularly severe in some parts of the country.
There will be no single national solution to a problem whose causes differ from one community to another.
We will work with states and communities to identify the barriers keeping children out of school and develop responses suited to those circumstances — including poverty, insecurity, distance, cultural factors and the economic pressures that cause families to withdraw children from education.
Getting a child into school is only the beginning. The goal is for that child to remain in school and learn.
Education should prepare Nigerians not only to pass examinations, but to participate successfully in the economy.
We will strengthen the connection between education, technical and vocational training, apprenticeships, tertiary institutions and the skills employers and entrepreneurs need.
Young Nigerians should have multiple credible routes into productive work — whether through university, technical education, vocational training, apprenticeships or entrepreneurship.
In Oyo State, the Makinde administration removed the ₦3,000 education levy in public secondary schools at the beginning of the administration, reducing a direct barrier to access for families.
That decision reflected a broader principle that the government should identify the obstacles preventing children from accessing education and remove those within its power to address.
The Reset Agenda will build on lessons from Oyo State while recognising that Nigeria’s education challenges differ across states and communities and require solutions appropriate to each context.
Nigeria’s challenges are not only economic or security problems, they are also problems of how the government is structured, how institutions work and how power is exercised.
Too much authority remains concentrated at the centre. Institutions do not always have the powers or accountability needed to perform effectively. And citizens too often encounter a government that is difficult to navigate and difficult to hold to account.
Resetting Nigeria’s socio-political system means building stronger institutions, a more functional federation and a government that is accountable to the people.
We will focus on three things.
Nigeria is a federation. Our system of government should function like one.
We will pursue greater devolution of powers so that responsibilities that can be handled more effectively by states do not remain unnecessarily concentrated at the Federal Government.
This includes examining the balance of responsibility over areas such as security, natural resources and other matters where states need sufficient authority to respond to their own circumstances.
We have consistently argued publicly for greater devolution of powers and fiscal federalism.
Nigeria does not need strong men; we need strong institutions.
Institutions should have clear responsibilities, appropriate authority and systems that continue to work regardless of who occupies a particular position.
We will focus on strengthening institutions, clarifying responsibility and removing structural obstacles that prevent different levels of government from performing the functions Nigerians expect of them.
The objective is simple: the government should work because the system works.
Public office is a responsibility to the people.
The government should be able to explain what it is doing, what public resources are being used for and whether policies are producing the results promised.
We will strengthen systems for transparency, measurement and accountability so that Nigerians have better information with which to assess the performance of the government.
Accountability should not begin and end at elections.
In Oyo State, one example of the limitations of Nigeria’s present structure emerged after the Bodija explosion, where questions around the regulation and control of mining-related activities highlighted the practical consequences of responsibilities being divided between federal and state authorities.
The experience reinforced the case for reviewing whether states have sufficient regulatory powers to deal effectively with activities taking place within their territories.
