#DEMOCRACYDAY: Read President Muhammadu Buhari’s full speech
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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