President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 campaign manifesto has revived several commitments contained in the All Progressives Congress (APC) manifesto presented to Nigerians ahead of the 2023 general election, with fresh targets and timelines attached to some of the proposals.
A comparison of the two documents shows similarities in areas including housing, agriculture, electricity, transportation, healthcare, youth employment, women’s empowerment, social protection, national security, industrialisation, identity management, judicial reform and water supply.
The 2027 document, titled Renewed Hope Agenda 2.0, outlines the APC’s plans for a second Tinubu term between 2027 and 2031. It groups the proposals under four pillars: Secure and Resilient Nation; Better Quality and More Affordable Life for Every Nigerian; Energy, Infrastructure and Economic Growth; and Effective and Accountable Governance.
While some of the promises have been expanded or given specific performance targets in the new manifesto, others retain the same broad objectives as those contained in the 2023 document.
On housing, the 2023 manifesto promised to address Nigeria’s housing deficit by merging existing federal housing agencies into a new, adequately capitalised body responsible for providing low-interest mortgages, guaranteeing qualified mortgages issued by banks and purchasing mortgages from private banks.
It also promised to review the Land Use Act, streamline land conveyance and provide incentives to developers who set aside a significant portion of their projects for affordable housing. The document further proposed a social housing policy to provide opportunities for low-income Nigerians to own homes.
The 2027 manifesto retains the affordable housing and mortgage financing agenda but sets out more specific targets. It promises to build 200 homes in each of the 774 local government areas, amounting to 154,800 units, and work towards delivering 200,000 homes during the next term.
It also proposes capitalising the Mortgage Refinance and Investment Fund (MREIF) towards N1tn to support 20-year fixed-rate mortgages, raising the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria’s loan ceiling from N50m to N85m and delivering one million digital land titles across 18 to 20 states in the first phase of the Land4Growth initiative.
Agriculture is another area where the two manifestos share similar commitments.
The 2023 document identified the need to increase the proportion of cultivated arable land from 35 per cent to 65 per cent within four years. It also promised to improve agricultural productivity, agro-allied industries, food security and farmers’ incomes.
Under its Farm Nigeria proposal, the party promised to make more arable land available, establish partnerships between small and medium-scale farmers and larger investors, and locate food processing plants close to farming sites to increase value addition.
The 2027 manifesto promises to build on the Guaranteed Minimum Price scheme and strategic grain reserves to stabilise staple food prices. It also proposes a monthly food-price tracker, improved storage and cold-chain facilities, farm-to-market roads and agro-processing to reduce post-harvest losses.
The document further promises to lower the cost of moving food through road, rail and port infrastructure while strengthening agricultural production and food safety standards.
On electricity, the APC’s 2023 manifesto acknowledged that Nigeria’s power sector was constrained by inadequate generation, transmission and distribution capacity.
It promised to take immediate steps to ensure that more of the electricity already generated reached homes and businesses, encourage off-grid and renewable energy projects, and provide low-cost financing for power projects.
It also pledged to end estimated billing and ensure that electricity bills were meter-based, while accelerating existing metering programmes.
The 2027 manifesto similarly promises to expand electricity generation, transmission and distribution, improve power supply to industries and strengthen gas-to-power projects.
It also commits to metering households and businesses, reducing technical and commercial losses, expanding dedicated power supply to industrial clusters and improving electricity reliability through investment in transmission infrastructure and network automation.
On transportation, the 2023 manifesto promised a nationwide highway system connecting major cities and regions through modern, safe multi-lane roads. It also pledged to rehabilitate and expand existing federal roads and expressways through funding mechanisms, including public-private partnerships.
The document identified the completion of major railway projects, including Lagos-Kano, Benin-Abakaliki, Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, Lagos-Calabar and Kano-Maradi. It also encouraged state governments to establish metro systems in their capital cities.
The 2027 manifesto again promises to complete and maintain strategically important highways and railway corridors linking agricultural belts, mining centres, manufacturing hubs, major population centres and border crossings.
It also lists ports, airports, inland dry ports, cold-chain facilities and intermodal connections among its infrastructure priorities, with a commitment to publish project completion plans, funding arrangements and milestones.
The two manifestos also share commitments on youth employment and enterprise development.
The 2023 manifesto promised to create jobs for young Nigerians, particularly those from poor and underprivileged backgrounds. It also proposed social investment programmes to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as well as a Digital MSME Academy to provide entrepreneurs with training, expert advice and business development support.
The 2027 document retains the focus on youth employment, entrepreneurship and digital skills but sets a target of halving youth unemployment by 2031.
It promises to expand skills training to two million young people, scale digital literacy programmes towards 30 million Nigerians, expand lending through the NEXTGEN Bank and Nigeria Youth Investment Fund, and establish a proposed Youth Bank.
The manifesto also promises to expand MSME support hubs and the Digital MSME Academy, as well as entrepreneurship grants and loans for corps members and young innovators.
On healthcare, the 2023 manifesto promised to scale up the National Health Insurance Authority Act, with the objective of implementing a mandatory health insurance scheme to cover at least 40 per cent of the population within two years.
It also pledged to expand primary healthcare, improve healthcare manpower and encourage domestic manufacturing of essential medicines and vaccines.
The 2027 manifesto repeats the 40 per cent health insurance target but moves the deadline to 2031. It promises to raise the proportion of functional primary healthcare centres from 53 per cent towards 90 per cent by 2031 and reduce out-of-pocket health spending from 71 per cent to below 50 per cent of total health expenditure.
It also promises to achieve 50 per cent local production of essential medicines by 2031, expand maternal and child healthcare programmes and improve the availability of health workers.
The two manifestos also share a commitment to increasing women’s participation in government.
The 2023 manifesto promised legislation to raise women’s participation in government to at least 35 per cent of all governmental positions. It also proposed concessionary loans and incentives for women-owned businesses, scholarships to encourage female participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and stronger measures against domestic violence.
The 2027 manifesto again sets a target of at least 35 per cent women’s representation in the next Cabinet and major ministries, departments and agencies, towards the same level across public appointments.
It also promises to expand the GLOW credit-guarantee scheme, scale the Nigeria for Women Project across all 36 states and establish nationwide coverage of Sexual Assault Referral Centres and specialised support services.
On social welfare, the 2023 manifesto promised to expand the National Social Investment Programme, including the Conditional Cash Transfer, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, Homegrown School Feeding and N-Power initiatives.
It also pledged conditional income support for very poor households and unconditional support for elderly people, extremely poor persons and persons with disabilities.
The 2027 document retains cash transfers and school feeding as key social protection measures. It promises to verify at least 20 million people in the National Social Register by 2030 and expand direct cash transfers beyond the more than 10 million people it says have already been reached.
It also proposes implementing the $1bn HOPE-SP programme, beginning with emergency cash transfers to 7.6 million vulnerable households, while expanding school feeding into a full national programme.
National security also features prominently in both documents.
The 2023 manifesto promised to expand recruitment of military, police, paramilitary and intelligence personnel, improve their equipment and strengthen the use of technology to tackle insecurity.
It also proposed the creation of specialised anti-terrorist battalions, improved intelligence gathering, community-based security measures and better welfare for security personnel.
The 2027 manifesto carries forward the recruitment and security technology commitments, with more specific figures. It promises to recruit and train 28,000 additional military personnel, deploy 50,000 newly recruited police officers and recruit 30,150 Civil Defence personnel.
It also promises to establish a legal framework for accountable state and community policing, deploy Forest Guards and Agro-Rangers to protect farming communities, and complete electronic surveillance coverage of mapped borders.
The new document further commits to strengthening domestic production of military equipment and expanding surveillance of critical national assets, including energy pipelines, electricity grids, railways, schools and health facilities.
On industrialisation and economic diversification, the 2023 manifesto promised to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported goods through import-substitution policies, incentives for local manufacturers and measures to promote domestic production.
It also proposed the development of industrial hubs, support for local value addition and greater investment in manufacturing and other productive sectors.
The 2027 manifesto retains industrialisation and economic diversification as priorities, promising to establish at least one anchor industrial cluster in each geopolitical zone.
It also pledges to more than double non-oil export earnings through processed goods, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, healthcare manufacturing and digital services. Other targeted sectors include steel, aluminium, agro-processing, textiles, garments and creative industries.
The 2023 manifesto proposed the integration of government databases and the use of reliable identity information to improve security and public service delivery.
The 2027 document expands the same objective, promising to enrol 95 per cent of citizens and legal residents in the National Identity Database and complete the integration of remaining databases and government agencies into a central foundational identity database.
It says the system will support secure digital verification, reduce administrative duplication and help ensure that social welfare reaches verified beneficiaries.
On judicial reform, the 2023 manifesto promised far-reaching reforms to guarantee the financial independence, impartiality, effectiveness and integrity of the judiciary. It also pledged to uphold the rule of law and ensure equal treatment of Nigerians under the law.
The 2027 manifesto retains the commitment to judicial independence, promising to press for financial autonomy for state judiciaries and strengthen the National Judicial Council’s disciplinary processes.
It also introduces specific proposals to expand electronic filing and case management across federal courts, extend digital processes to magistrate courts, reduce avoidable adjournments and strengthen legal aid and alternative dispute resolution.
Water supply and rural infrastructure also feature in the comparison
The 2023 manifesto promised to establish a national potable water supply campaign, with the target that, by the end of that decade, no Nigerian should live more than five minutes away from a reliable source of potable water.
It also promised to reticulate major dams for improved power generation and year-round agricultural activities, while building small-scale irrigation and water-catchment systems in rural communities.
The 2027 manifesto includes water and sanitation facilities in its school infrastructure commitments and refers to water provision as part of broader infrastructure development. However, the specific five-minute access-to-potable-water target contained in the 2023 manifesto is not stated in the available summary of the 2027 commitments.
The comparison shows that the 2027 manifesto is not an entirely new policy direction. Rather, it retains several commitments made in 2023 while attaching fresh figures, implementation deadlines and additional programmes to some of them.
One example is the promise to achieve 40 per cent health insurance coverage. The 2023 manifesto set a two-year target, while the 2027 document moves the same target to 2031. Similarly, the 35 per cent target for women’s representation in government appears in both documents.
Other commitments, particularly on housing, youth employment, electricity, agriculture and security, have been expanded with new targets and delivery mechanisms.
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