Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday said the Buhari led administration which took over the reins of power 29th May 2015, spent its first year clearing the mess it inherited and putting together new building blocks for its own dreams.
For the government, the economy was one of its biggest challenges because of its impact on the lives of the citizen.
Osinbajo stated this in his Democracy day speech while speaking on a life broadcast on Monday morning adding that the government has also developed a willingness to learn from its mistakes and improve on its successes.
According to him, the government’s focus for the next two years will be on Agriculture and food security, Energy, (power and Petroleum,) Industrialization and Transport infrastructure, all in partnership with the private sector.
“Indeed, much of 2016 was spent clearing the mess we inherited and putting the building blocks together for the future of our dreams; laying a solid foundation for the kind of future that you deserve as citizens of Nigeria.
“Admittedly, the economy has proven to be the biggest challenge of all. Let me first express just how concerned we have been, since this administration took office, about the impact of the economic difficulties on our citizens.
“The critical points that we must address fully in the next two years are : Agriculture and food security, Energy, (power and Petroleum,) Industrialization and Transport infrastructure. Every step of the way we will be working with the private sector, giving them the necessary incentives and creating an environment to invest and do business.
“Our vision is for a country that grows what it eats and produces what it consumes. It is for a country that no longer has to import petroleum products, and develops a lucrative petrochemical industry.
Very importantly it is for a country whose fortunes are no longer tied to the price of a barrel of crude, but instead to the boundless talent and energy of its people, young and old, male and female as they invest in diverse areas of the economy” he said.
Enumerating some of the gains achieved in its last two years, Osinbajo said the government has delivered on its promise of restoring the country’s security especially in the north east where the Boko haram insurgents hitherto held sway.
He also stated that the government was on course in the fight against corruption, reiterating the possibility of creating special courts for corruption cases. He listed government’s effort on the economy to include rolling out different programmes and policies to revitalize the economy and create more jobs for the teeming unemployed graduates.
According to him, these included the Social Investment Programmes, the ease of doing business, the executive orders he signed recently amongst others.
He recalled the President’s budget speech delivered at a joint session of the National Assembly in December last year stating that five months on, some of the promises were already coming to fruition.
He listed the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative which he said has now resulted in the revitalisation of 11 blending plants across the country, the creation of 50,000 direct and indirect jobs so far, and in the production of 300,000 metric tonnes of NPK fertilizer, which is being sold to farmers at prices significantly lower than what they paid last year. By the end of 2017, that Fertilizer Initiative would have led to foreign exchange savings of US$200 million; and subsidy savings of 60 billion naira.
“All of this is evidence that we are taking very seriously our ambition of agricultural self-sufficiency” he said adding that imports of rice have dropped by 90 percent, while domestic production has almost tripled with a goal to produce enough rice to meet local demand by 2019.
Again he noted that the government will not succumb to the temptation of taking short cuts that will complicate the journey. He borrowed a quote from Presidnet Buhari saying “The old Nigeria is slowly but surely disappearing, and a new era is rising.”
Osinbajo who also prayed for the quick recovery of president Buhari assured Nigerians of a better future, saying that the administration would not exclude any part of the country in this developmental strides.
Elizabeth Archibong
