Address by Muhammadu
Buhari, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in commemoration of the
2018 Democracy Day celebration, Tuesday, 29th May, 2018
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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