President Muhammadu Buhari
has told his Ministers designate that majority Nigerians are extremely poor.
President Buhari said this
on Tuesday at the end of a two-day Presidential Retreat for designate and
senior Government officials.
Here is the full text of
the President’s speech:
After two days, we have
come to the end of a successful retreat. However, you will agree that our work
is just beginning.
These last two days have
been very instructive for me personally, because I have had the opportunity to
know many of you new Ministers-Designate better. I was also pleased to see that
you have all equally enjoyed debating and deliberating on the various
challenges before us over the next 4 years.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
majority of our people are poor and are anxiously hoping for a better life. A
Nigeria in which they do not have to worry about what they will eat, where they
will live or if they can afford to pay for their children’s education or
healthcare.
Our responsibility as
leaders of this great country is to meet these basic needs for our people. As I
mentioned yesterday, this Administration inherited many challenges from our
predecessors to mention a few:
A country in which 18 local
governments in the Northeast were under the control of Boko Haram
Decayed infrastructure in
which our rail lines and roads had severely deteriorated;
A rent seeking economy that
depended largely on oil revenues and imports
Significant unpaid
pensions, subsidy debts, legacy contractor debts. I can go on and on.
In our first term, we laid
the foundation to rebuild our country. We recaptured those 18 Local Governments
previously held by Boko Haram, whose activities are now limited to sporadic
attacks against soft targets.
Our investments in road and
rail infrastructure are without precedent, and many of you can attest to this.
We also focused on diversifying the economy from oil towards agriculture and
industrialization.
Despite reduced revenues
from oil and gas compared to past governments, we have broadly addressed many
of the legacy debts they left behind.
Whilst we have obvious
successes to celebrate, the challenges ahead are significant as you would have
observed in detail over these two days. Nevertheless, from the quality of the
deliberations, it is clear that solutions to our problems are well researched
and have been well articulated.
We have discussed solutions
relating to addressing Insecurity; Macroeconomic Stability; Agriculture and
Food Security; Energy Security for Petroleum products and Electricity; Transportation
and Critical Infrastructure; Industrialization and SME Development; Human
Capital Development; Social Inclusion; Anti-Corruption; Housing Financing and
Consumer Credit.
Public service is not easy
work, and at times it can be thankless. I am therefore charging you all to see
this opportunity to serve as an honour, to give your best to deliver on this
mandate, for a more prosperous Nigeria, not for some, but for all Nigerians.
You will find that working
collaboratively and purposefully will enable us to achieve quicker results,
recognizing that four years is not a very long time. For the new Ministers,
make sure you engage and benefit from the experience of the older Ministers and
former Governors in the cabinet.
In terms of coordination,
kindly ensure that all submissions for my attention or meeting requests be
channeled through the Chief of Staff, while all Federal Executive Council
matters be coordinated through the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation.
I would like to thank the
Office of the SGF for coordinating this successful Presidential Retreat. I
would also like to thank the National Assembly leadership, the Party Chairman,
Chairman of the Governors Forum, and resource firms, for the active engagements
and contributions.
Once again, the challenges
that lie ahead of us as a country are significant. But I have no doubt in your
individual capacities and our collective patriotic commitment to deliver a
better Nigeria for us, our children and a brighter future for all.
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