By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The National Election Debate Group (NEDG) has disclosed that only four out of 18 Presidential candidates will participate in national election debate for Presidential and Vice-Presidential aspirants slated to commence on December 15.
In a Press Conference on Friday in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) Eddie Emessiri in collaboration with NEDG disclosed that successful candidates will be drawn from a public poll already running in the official website of the organizers.
Disclosing details of the debate, the Executive Secretary of NEDG hinted that only four candidates, to be selected by the public, will be priviledged to participate in the debate. He said any presidential candidate or political party that intends to grace the debate podium should be able to make itself acceptable before the public as the group does not want to reduce the debate to an all-comers affair.
Throwing more light on the importance of the debate, Emessiri said, “This Presidential Debate on Economic Policy seeks to curate content that addresses the state of the economy, the concerns of the citizens to choose from among the Presidential candidates and other leadership positions scheduled for the February General Elections.
“Given the critical conditions of our economy following the global down turn of economic and business activities, the issues for debate should enable Nigeria’s comprehend the policy directions of the presidential candidates and the solutions that will provide a stable economy, address unemployment and drive economic growth based on their presentation of solution to fiscal policy as well as other policies on industrialization, trade, agriculture, investment, export promotion and infrastructure, and how these would influence changes to our current conditions”.
Also in his Presentation, the Chief Executive Officer of NESG, Chuka Mordi added that only four of the most popular candidates will participate in the debate due to paucity of funds. He said that experience from the past has shown that many aspirants buy presidential forms just to make themselves popular and do not engage in any campaign. He said that such aspirants will not have the priviledge to use the debate arena to make themselves popular. He stressed that only four top candidates that pass the criteria generated from a public poll will have the opportunity to participate in the debate.
He said that debate will hold in Abuja and Port Hacourt on December 15, Lagos, January 19,2023 and Kano February 16.
He further said that the list of successful candidates and the methodology for the selection process will be announced on the 8th of November.
