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| President Muhammadu Buhari |
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 re-commitment 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. ₦200 Billion has also been saved from elimination of
ghost workers in public service.
b. The Whistle-Blowing Policy has helped to
recover over ₦500 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 US$47.5 billion as of May, 2018 as against US$29.6 billion 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 U$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 ₦5,000 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 US$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, ₦851.5 million Special Education Grant disbursed to
23 States and private providers of Special Education and ₦2.2 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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