The presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Dr. Peter Ada Agada, has said that if elected president, he would manage Nigeria like a project site, with emphasis on direct labour, grassroots development, and transparent monitoring of government projects.
Agada made the declaration while speaking on the 90MinutesAfrica Presidential Candidates Series, hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo.
The candidate, who described himself as a project manager with experience in handling major projects, said his approach to governance would be anchored on his professional experience in project management.
“I’m a project architect, and I have handled some of the biggest projects one can think of. Governance is about developing projects. I want to project-manage Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, his administration would introduce a ward intervention programme targeting Nigeria’s 8,809 wards, with each ward receiving N40 million monthly for the development of critical infrastructure.
He said competent teams would administer the funds to execute projects in areas such as schools, hospitals, and small and medium-scale enterprises (SME).
Agada said the programme would operate through what he described as his “Labour-Direct” method, which involves engaging people directly to carry out development projects rather than relying on conventional contracting arrangements.
“My prudent method called Labour-Direct is literally engaging people directly to work so that they can develop the wards where we all live,” he explained.
The YPP candidate also proposed using technology to enhance transparency and accountability in implementing the ward intervention programme.
He said the system would be GPS-driven, allowing Nigerians to monitor government projects remotely and enabling citizens to participate in choosing, implementing, and monitoring projects in their communities.
“The scheme will allow Nigerians to choose, implement, and monitor their projects,” Agada said.
On his presidential ambition, Agada said he became the YPP presidential candidate in August and was focused on mobilising 20 million Nigerian youths to support his aspiration.
He said he was aware of efforts by Professor Pat Utomi to bring presidential candidates of opposition parties under a common coalition, but disclosed that he had not been contacted.
Agada, however, said he would only consider joining a coalition if its objectives and programmes were clearly defined.
“If they come to me to join a coalition, I will request to know the agenda of the coalition because I wouldn’t want to be a part of a repeat of the same thing that brought APC to power,” he said.
He argued that the coalition that produced the All Progressives Congress (APC) was primarily united by the objective of removing former President Goodluck Jonathan from office, without establishing sufficiently clear long-term programmes for governance.
Agada said he would therefore demand a comprehensive framework, including short, medium, and long-term programmes, before agreeing to participate in any opposition coalition.
The YPP candidate also criticised the Federal Government’s economic policies, arguing that improvements in macroeconomic indicators had yet to translate into meaningful improvements in the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
“The macro economy that the government claims to be doing well does not have any effect yet on the micro economy,” he said.
Agada described the situation as a “dissonance” between Nigeria’s macroeconomic performance and the realities confronting citizens at the grassroots. “I don’t consider Nigeria to be prospering yet,” he declared.
He referred to the World Bank’s projection that sustained macroeconomic improvements could take about ten years before their benefits significantly reach poorer Nigerians, but questioned the value of waiting so long for ordinary citizens to experience improved living standards.
He said, “At that time, most of the people would have been dead and buried.”
Agada also disclosed that he had previously developed an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) system intended to strengthen the Nigerian military’s communication and command-and-control capabilities.
According to him, the proposed system was designed to reduce the military’s reliance on civilian communication infrastructure, including GSM networks, and provide dedicated communication capabilities for security operations.
He said the system was also designed to support border and highway surveillance by deploying beacons at strategic locations that detect threats and transmit alerts to nearby security units for rapid response.
Agada said he presented the proposal to the military hierarchy and that it received approval from the Chief of Defence Staff and the Minister of Defence.
“We were to build the network with their own dedicated frequencies, but the government changed, and we never built the network,” he said.
According to him, the proposed project was eventually stalled under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He further advocated a dedicated communication system that would enable Nigeria’s security agencies to collaborate more effectively in monitoring the country’s borders and highways and responding to threats.
Agada also offered his assessment of Peter Obi’s departure from the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
He said Obi left the party after it became clear that he could not secure its presidential ticket, particularly because former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was also seeking the presidential nomination.
“Peter Obi had to leave the ADC when he couldn’t find a pathway to becoming the party’s presidential candidate,” Agada said.
He added that many people, including himself, were initially optimistic about the possibility of Obi and Atiku working together, but he was not surprised when Obi eventually left and joined the NDC, saying he believed Obi had already decided to pursue his own presidential ambition.
