The candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the 2027 presidential election, Adewole Adebayo, has promised to resuscitate industries and create jobs, as well as transform the health, education and infrastructural sectors if elected.

Adebayo, who emerged as the opposition party’s consensus presidential candidate at the SDP National Convention in Bauchi at the weekend, said his administration would pursue “people-centred government”.

He said his government would implement more than 500 programmes to tackle unemployment, insecurity, poor healthcare, decaying infrastructure and economic hardship.

Adebayo said: “The mandate will be used to articulate over 500 programmes at the end of which, in the first 18 months of our administration, poverty in Nigeria will reduce to two per cent.”

He promised to reduce unemployment to four per cent within two years through a nationwide jobs and public works initiative. He pledged free and compulsory education from elementary to tertiary levels, stressing that education should not end until graduates become employable.

Adebayo promised universal access to affordable healthcare services through a system linked to the National Identification Number (NIN). According to him, every Nigerian will be entitled to four free medical examinations annually under the SDP healthcare plan.

Adebayo criticised the Bola Tinubu administration’s handling of the economy, alleging that subsidy savings had not translated into meaningful improvements in the lives of ordinary Nigerians. According to him, corruption, policy inconsistency and poor economic management have worsened hardship across the country.