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.
