Apparently worried by the free fall of crude oil price in international market, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari on Friday promised that he would steer Nigeria out of the attendant economic hardship by diversifying the economy into agriculture and mining if elected as president on February 14, 2015.

He made the pledge at a presidential campaign rally at Etched Primary School Aba, the commercial city of Abia State, saying that Nigeria had great potentials in agriculture and solid mineral deposits which if well harnessed, would enable the country absorb any shock occasioned by dwindling oil revenue.

According to him, by paying more attention to the non-oil sector of the economy, his administration would not only put the economy on a firmer ground, but also tackle the lingering problem of unemployment

“The main concern of the APC is to make sure that there are no idle capable able-bodied person roaming the streets and becoming touts instead of becoming a productive citizen. We want to encourage the financial institutions to empower the small scale industrialists by giving soft credits," he said.

The former military head of state also said that he would create jobs in the federal ministries, assuring that "in spite of falling crude oil prices, the APC will look and employ qualified, competent, patriotic Nigerians to manage our ministries so that competent and qualified Nigerians will get jobs and opportunity to perform.”

Buhari, who has been singing the matra of fighting corruption, told his cheering supporters that his administration was going to be accountable to the people and challenged Nigerians to hold the APC accountable if they failed to deliver on their promises.

While commending the ingenuity of the Aba people, he specifically promised residents of the commercial city and the South-east zone in general that he would give them constant supply of electricity as well as provide financial assistance for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) to enable the entrepreneurs grow their businesses and contribute to the growth of the national economy.

The APC presidential candidate indeed came with bag of promises to tackle the myriads of problems facing South-east, assuring that his administration would tackle ecological problems in the zone, fix the bad roads, noting that the zone deserved the best infrastructure given their contributions to national development and the African economy in general.