President Muhammmadu Buhari has promised massive infrastructure expansion in his second tenure, including expanding broadband network to 120,000km of fibre network across Nigeria.
Buhari said this while unveiling his second term agenda at the Presidential Villa on Sunday. He promised action packed second term, saying that the first tenure was used to lay solid foundation.
The president, who identified broadband as Critical Infrastructure, said his administration had addressed the challenges of uniform Right of Way charges, adding that “Next Level is to move broadband coverage to 120,000 km of fibre network across Nigeria.”
“After partnering with Google for free Internet access in key locations, next level will prioritise access to Internet for education, primary health care, markets, business clusters.”
Buhari also promised a minimum of 1,000 MW new generation infrastructure and “incremental power capacity per annum on the Grid; while distribution will rise to 7,000 MW under the projected distribution expansion programme.”
“Next level moves from 16 markets such as Sura, Ariaria to lighting up 300 markets and clusters with clean, uninterrupted off-grid power”
The president said nine universities have been listed to benefit from the new electrification projects.
The new agricultural policy under next level will see the ‘Trader-moni’ take current number of 2.3 million traders, farmers, artisans to 10 million Nigerians under the new Scheme.
President Buhari said his administration is also planning soft loans to support business ideas across different business value chains, under the ‘Debt and Equity Support for Young Entrepreneurs’.
“We will embark on profiling and tailored advisory services for entrepreneurs technology enabled, online banking account opening as well as credit rating done with technology” he said
Under the skills and capacity building support programme, President Buhari said his administration will help with capacity development where needed.
In the area of health services, the president disclosed that his administration will exempt the poorest 40 percent from payments, while strengthening the co-payments method to share the cost between individuals, the private sector and government.
He disclosed that the government was promoting one percent of Consolidated Revenue Fund for the health sector.
“In compliance with National Health Act, we achieved this in 2018 building the backbone for primary healthcare centres” he said.
But as the president’s performance in the last four years continued to elicit reactions ahead of the 2019 general elections, a frontline media practitioner, Kareem Afegbua, has criticised the Buhari plan as being bereft of good ideas.
Afegbua dismissed Buhari’s three and half years in office as a “retrogression for Nigeria”
According to him, “Next level to where. We need strong intellectual introspection,
“Someone who campaigned on the basis of change, should rather be talking about consolidation. But what we have seen over the years is rising levels of unemployment, poverty and insecurity. So, l asks you, next level to where?”
Similarly, frontline politician and elder statesman, Tanko Yankasai, also described President Buhari as “incapable of doing better than he has done so far”.
Speaking on the release of the President’s campaign flag off and release of his campaign agenda on Sunday, Yankasai called on Nigerians to ignore the government’s propaganda
“Nigerians should ignore every statement coming from them, they are just propaganda “he said.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
