My Dear Nigerians!
Today marks the 19th year of our
nascent democracy and the 3rd Anniversary of this administration. I am thankful
to Almighty God for bringing us thus far. This administration came at a time
that Nigerians needed Change, the Change we promised and the Change we continue
to deliver. We have faced a lot of challenges on this journey and Nigerians
have stood by us in achieving the three cardinal points of this administration
namely; Security, Corruption and the Economy.
2. The commemoration of this
year’s Democracy Day is a celebration of freedom, a salute to the resilience
and determination of Nigerians and a recommitment by Government to keep its
promise to lead Nigeria into a new era of justice and prosperity.
3. Public safety and security
remains the primary duty of this Government. Before this Administration came
into being 3 years ago, Boko Haram held large areas of land spanning several
Local Governments in the North East.
4. Today, the capacity of the
insurgents has been degraded leading to the re-establishment of authority of
government and the release of captives including, happily, 106 Chibok and 104
Dapchi girls, and over 16,000 other persons held by the Boko Haram.
5. In order to minimize the
impact of the insurgency on Internally Displaced Persons, Government has
established secure IDP Camps and has improved the mechanism for the
distribution of basic aid, foods and essential commodities using various
strategies in collaboration with local and international Organizations.
6. Efforts are in process for
resettlement of IDPs in their home communities by providing schools, hospitals,
clinics, water, and sanitation to facilitate a quick return to economic
activities. Government is similarly implementing de-radicalization and
rehabilitation programmes to facilitate sustainable peace and development.
7. The unfortunate incidences of
kidnappings, herdsmen and farmers clashes in several communities which have led
to high number of fatalities and loss of properties across the country is being
addressed and the identified culprits and their sponsors shall be made to face
the full wrath of the law. All the three tiers of Government are presently
engaged with communities and religious organizations to restore peaceful
co-existence among Nigerians.
8. I want to commend members of
the Multinational Joint Task Force drawn from Niger, Benin, Chad, Cameroon and
our own country in collaboration with the International Community who are
assisting in the fight against insurgency in the North East. I also commend the
gallantry of members of our Armed Forces and other security agencies that have
continued to provide security for lives and properties across the country.
State and Local traditional authorities are helping with much needed
intelligence in this fight against insurgency.
9. This administration is pained
over the grievous loss of lives and properties occasioned by the carnage of
insurgency and other forms of criminality in the country. I wish to assure
Nigerians that we will not rest until all criminal elements and their sponsors
are brought to justice. Government is boosting the capacity of our security
agencies through recruitment of more personnel, training and procurement of
modern equipment, enhancement of intelligence gathering as well as boosting
their morale in the face of daunting challenges.
10. The Niger Delta Region has
enjoyed relative peace through social inclusiveness and cooperation of the
Elders and the good people of the region. Government is committed to
implementing the comprehensive peace, security and development plan for the
region. The environmental clean-up of the region which commenced with the
launch in Bodo, Ogoni in June, 2016 is progressing satisfactorily. Furthermore
farming assets are being revived and investors in cocoa and palm oil
plantations are showing serious interest.
11. The second primary object of
this Administration is to fight corruption headlong. Like I have always said,
if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will destroy the country. Three years
into this Administration, Nigerians and the international community have begun
to applaud our policies and determination to fight corruption. We are more than
ever before determined to win this war, however hard the road is. I therefore
appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians to continue to support us in this fight.
12. Various policy measures
already put in place to stem the tide of corrupt practices are yielding
remarkable results. Some of these key reform policies include:
a. The Treasury Single Account
(TSA) has realized Billions of Naira being saved from maintenance fee payable
to banks. N200 Billion has also been saved from elimination of ghost workers in
public service.
b. The Whistle-Blowing Policy has
helped to recover over N500 Billion;
c. The Presidential Initiative on
Continuous Audit set up with a mandate to validate controls, assess risks,
prune personnel costs, ensure compliance with Public Financial Management
reforms has helped to identify and remove over 52,000 ghost workers from the
Federal Government MDAs Payroll;
d. The Voluntary Asset and Income
Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) aimed at expanding tax education and awareness has
offered the opportunity for tax defaulters to regularise their status in order
to enjoy the amnesty of forgiveness on overdue interest, penalties and the
assurance of non-prosecution or subject to tax investigations.
e. The Sovereign Wealth Fund
project portfolio has been expanded with an injection of US$650 million so as
to strengthen its investment in local infrastructure, power, health,
re-construction of Abuja-Kano road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, East West Road
(Section V) and the Mambilla Hydro-electric Power project as well as the
construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge.
13. The fight against corruption
through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has resulted in recoveries of
Billions of Naira, as well as forfeiture of various forms of assets. This
alongside other efforts has improved Nigeria’s international image and regional
cooperation.
14. We have retained the services
of one of the world’s leading assets tracing firms to investigate and trace
assets globally. This is in addition to the exploitation of provisions of
existing Treaties, Conventions as well as Bilateral Agreements with Multilateral
bodies and Nations. Nigeria has also signed Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements
to ensure that there is no hiding place for fugitives.
15. This Administration has
therefore focused on revamping the ailing economy it inherited in 2015. In
2016, Government executed an expansionary budget and developed the Strategic
Implementation Plan. For the first time, 30% of the budget was earmarked for
capital expenditure which represents an upward review when compared with the
2015 budget. The SIP was followed by the development of a comprehensive medium
term plan – the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017 – 2020.
16. The broad strategic
objectives of the ERGP were to; Restore and sustain economic growth; Build a
globally competitive economy; and Invest in our people. The implementation of
the ERGP has started yielding results. The National Bureau of Statistics
reports that the economy grew by 1.95% in 1st quarter 2018, which is a good
performance when viewed against -0.91 in 1st quarter 2017 and -0.67% in 1st quarter
2016 respectively.
17. Our foreign reserve has
improved significantly to 47.5 billion USD as of May, 2018 as against 29.6
billion USD in 2015. The inflationary rate has consistently declined every
month since January, 2017.
18. Recently, Government
conducted Focus Labs in three key sectors of the Economy namely, Agriculture
& Transport, Manufacturing and Processing as well as Power and Gas. These
have yielded significant prospects for investments and Job creation to the tune
of US$ 22.5 billion with a potential for creating more than 500,000 jobs by
2020. These investment generation initiatives are expected to increase capital
inflows in the form of foreign direct investment. There is a high prospect that
the cumulative investments from this first phase of the Labs will hit US$39.2
billion by 2025.
19. Under agriculture, Nigeria
continues to pursue a strategic food security programme built around
self-sufficiency and minimization of import dependency. As a result, rice
importation from other countries has been cut down by 90% which has a direct
impact on foreign reserves.
20. The Social Investment
Programmes (SIP) has been created as a means to graduating our citizens from
poverty through capacity building, investment and direct support. The major strategic
objective is to restore livelihood, economic opportunities and sustenance for
the poor across the country. The SIP programmes and projects include:
a. Home Grown School Feeding
Programme – About 8.2 million pupils are currently being fed from 24 States of
the Federation with over 75,000 Catering Staff engaged under the programme.
b. The Conditional Cash Transfer
has so far recorded over 297,000 caregivers and being trained by 2,495
Community Facilitators in 21 states. Less privileged Nigerians are now being
paid N5,000 monthly stipend in 9 pilot States of Bauchi, Borno, Cross River,
Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Osun and Oyo. Eventually the scheme will cover all
the 36 states of the federation including the FCT.
c. Under the Government
Enterprise Empowerment Programme – About 264,269 loans had been disbursed to
4,822 societies in the 36 States and FCT, while another 370,635 are awaiting
release of funds.
d. N-Power Job creation Scheme –
is targeted at providing jobs for unemployed young graduates and has so far
recruited 200,000 youths while the next batch of 300,000 have been selected,
verified and would soon be deployed across the 36 States and the FCT.
Furthermore, 20,000 non-graduate volunteers have also been selected to kick off
the N-Build programme in collaboration with the National Automotive Design and
Development Council and the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria.
21. In the area of power
generation, Nigerians from all parts of the country continue to report better
power supply and less use of generators. This underscores the effectiveness of
the methodical plan to deliver incremental and uninterrupted power supply to
our homes, markets, offices and factories.
22. The country achieved 5, 222.3
MW representing the highest peak of power generated onto the national grid and
delivered to customers in December, 2017. With new facilities, repairs and
rehabilitations by Government and private investors, generation capability now
exceeds 7,500 MW.
23. This Administration is
committed to lawful interventions to ensure the operators of the distribution
business live up to expectations especially in the areas of distribution
capacity, service delivery, collection efficiency, and metering to eliminate
contentious estimated billing.
24. The Transportation Sector
continues to undergo a series of reforms in order to sustain the international
best practices and ensure safety and security. The nation’s major airports have
witnessed reconstruction of runways, installation of navigational equipment and
new international terminals due for commissioning in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and
Enugu. Bilateral Air Services Agreements between Nigeria and the Governments of
other countries will significantly open up new flight routes.
25. As a result of strict
regulatory and compliance policies, Nigeria retained her Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) Category 1 status, after a routine international audit.
Recently, a new Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility with capacity for
aircraft C-checks and other comprehensive levels of maintenance was established
in Lagos. This would save the country an estimated $90m annually.
26. Giant strides have been
recorded over the past three years to improve road transport infrastructure in
all geopolitical zones of the country.
27. The Railway Sector has also
received tremendous attention as this Administration is committed to the goal
of linking all State capitals in the Federation by rail network to ease the
movement of goods and passengers.
28. The Education Sector
especially at tertiary level has continued to witness expansion in order to
improve access to higher education by millions of youths in Nigeria. Over the
last three years, Government has approved the establishment of 1 new Federal
Polytechnic, granted licenses for the establishment of 4 State and 14
private-owned Universities as well as 12 private Polytechnics.
29. Government has also continued
to support the implementation of various initiatives aimed at improving the
quality of Basic Education delivery. Thus, it has ensured proper funding at the
Basic Education level with the disbursement of N42.2 billion UBE Matching Grant
to 26 States and the FCT, N851.5 million Special Education Grant disbursed to
23 States and private providers of Special Education and N2.2 billion Teachers
Professional Development Fund to 33 States and the FCT.
30. The Federal Government has
continued to support fiscal sustainability at the sub-national governments
through the implementation of the Budget Support Facility which was accompanied
by the 22- point Fiscal Sustainability Plan. Thus, bailouts funds were made
available to States to ease their fiscal challenges and other obligations
including payment of salaries.
31. In addition, a total of 73
Ecological Fund projects for the control of gully erosion in different
communities across all geopolitical zones have been completed in the last three
years and are undergoing commissioning while 53 other projects are ongoing. The
execution of these projects has generated 357 skilled jobs and 1,350 unskilled
jobs during this period.
32. It is pertinent to also make
mention of the immeasurable contributions of the Nigerian woman to national
development and advancement of democracy, over the last three years. The
government and people appreciate you all as mothers of our great country.
33. My dear country men and
women, as we all celebrate our democratic experience, let us resolve to avoid
hatred and intolerance; we can only achieve our objectives in an atmosphere of
harmony and peaceful co-existence.
34. Finally, the up-coming months
will usher us into another season of general elections. Let me use this
opportunity to urge us all to conduct ourselves, our wards and our
constituencies with the utmost sense of fairness, justice and peaceful
co-existence such that we will have not only hitch free elections but also a
credible and violence free process.
35. In few days to come, I will
be joined by many promising young Nigerians to sign into law the “Not Too Young
to Run” Bill
36. I thank you for your
attention.
37. God bless the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.
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