Press Release: How Young People Outside Politics are Boldly Building the Nigerian Nation – VP Osinbajo

*VP celebrates success stories of several young Nigerians

*Calls for the Nigerian bridge to connect ethnicities, dialects, religion, politics and generations

“My point is that we can contribute  in profoundly transformative ways to changing our society by just doing our bit with excellence.

VP Osinbajo’s Address at the Platform Event of the Covenant Church, Igamu, Lagos

Nation-building in its classical sense refers to the formal and informal  processes by which political leadership attempts to build a national identity, a national ethos, a national spirit, especially in ethnically and religiously diverse societies. But it is my thesis that while government’s role is in casting the vision and creating the environment for nationhood, the real building of nations  is done and best seen through the efforts and accomplishments of many outside of political leadership. Men and women in business, agriculture, education, entertainment and the arts, who by just doing their business diligently, or serving faithfully or making sacrifices contribute to building the economies and  social systems that  ultimately build the  nation.

This afternoon I will share some of the stories of young people many of whom I have met who by just doing their own work faithfully have contributed to building our economy, increased our national pride and confidence, created opportunities for others, as well as, inspired others to be the best they can be. My point is that we can contribute  in profoundly transformative ways to changing our society by just doing our bit with excellence. Let me begin with the exceptional role of young Nigerians in innovation and technology.

On the 17th of April, I did a tour of technology businesses and hubs in Lagos. Paystack was my first stop, here is a safe payment system, which offers seamless money transactions between businesses and their customers. It was established in 2016 by two young Nigerian alumni of Babcock University; Sola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi.  Within the first three months of 2018 they have processed over N3billion  and generate about N40billion annually for Nigerian businesses. The company is today powering over 9,000 businesses that did not exist two years ago, creating over 25,000 jobs. Paystack has over 50 employees all under 35 years old. 

I was also at Andela,  a multinational company specializing in training software developers, co-founded by Nigerian born Iyin Aboyeji, & others like Ian Carnevale, Jeremy Johnson and Christina Sass. The company estimates that in the next 10 years there will be 1.3million software development jobs and only 40,000 computer science graduates to fill them. The company’s vision is to change the future of Nigeria and the African continent by developing talent and potential in Nigeria.  Today, the company has 1000 employees world wide. To enable that to happen, government’s role is to mainstream technology startups to be able to benefit from the incentives of industry.

Kola Oyeneyin’s  Venia Business/ Hub, is one of the earliest business hubs in Nigeria. Here, he has provided an efficient environment for many startups. Most of who use each others skills and technology cooperatively. But the pioneer of Nigerian hubs is clearly the Co-Creation Hub or CC Hub founded in 2010 by two young social entrepreneurs, Bosun Tijani and Femi Longe. It provides a platform for using innovative technology to solve social problems. Nearly 50 Nigerian tech driven businesses were incubated in CC hub. Some include now famous and dominant players like Budgit, Wecyclers, Genni Games, Lifebank, Gomyway, Vacantboards, Traclist, Autobox, Stutern, Gritsystems and Mamalette. All these businesses were started by young men and women under thirty-five.

One of the startups  that came out of Venia Hub is Flutterwave founded” in May 2016 by Iyin Aboyeji and a team of engineers and former bankers. This is a payment technology company that has since processed $2billion worth of transactions on its payment platforms. Tayo Oviosu‘s Paga, is in a class by itself. It is the leading mobile money transfer service in Nigeria. Paga has 11,000 agents across Nigeria and 6 million users. The company has a staff strength of 200. By facilitating payments for goods and services in this way, Paga has enabled several businesses and transactions. 

In healthcare, many young people are solving huge problems with ease. Temi Giwa’s LifeBank and Ola Orekunrin’s Flying Doctors are two startups using technology and innovation to fill critical gaps in our healthcare industry. Lifebank works on the blood shortage problem in hospitals and save lives by speeding up blood donations and delivery to hospitals in Lagos. Their Lifebank app connects donors and hospitals and they ensure delivery of blood within 55 minutes. Ola Orekunrin’s flying doctors, is the first air operated emergency medical service in West Africa. Her company provides air ambulances from a pool of 20 aircrafts and highly trained medical personnel for emergency evacuations.

The building of a self reliant nation must mean that the Nation should at least be able to feed itself. The response of many young Nigerians to the President’s call to “grow what we eat, eat what we grow,” and also diversify our economy is responsible for the phenomenal growth we have experienced in the past three years in the  Agricultural sector. The transformation in productivity and increase in investment that Nigerian talent and entrepreneurship have brought to agriculture is truly remarkable. 

Farmcrowdy is a digital agriculture portal that crowdsources funding for farms across Nigeria. Founded in 2016 by Onyeka Akumah and three other young Nigerians, it operates like a mutual fund; pooling together money from multiple investors to establish farms and hire smallholder farmers to cultivate them, and then paying the investors dividends from the harvests from these farms. In December 2017, it succeeded in raising US$1m in funding. From November 2016 till date, over 3000 rural farmers have been able to keep a job, expand their farm operations and increase their revenue as a result of intervention by Farmcrowdy. Such farmers include Sunday Ohimai who is a cassava farmer in Edo State, Esther a maize farmer from Dorowa-Babuje, just outside Jos, who recently improved her small acreage to a hectare and Uka Eje ‘s Thrive Agric in Abuja, who uses the same business model as Farmcrowdy also, with great success.

Four years before Farmcrowdy, in 2012, Yemisi Iranloye founded Psaltry, a cassava processing company in the rural town of Ado- Awaye. The starch it produces from the processed cassava is now used by several leading Nigerian food manufacturing companies, including Nestle, Unilever and Nigerian Breweries – as they increasingly replace imported starch with locally-sourced varieties. Psaltry was one of the companies that found growth opportunities in the midst of the recession, as companies cut down on imports and explored locally available substitution. In 2015 its revenues grew three-fold, and in 2016 it began building a second production line.

Abdul Fatah Sadiq Murtala, 25, is from Batagarawa local government in Katsina state. He founded Brio Green Agro Nigeria in 2016. It builds greenhouses and  hydroponic systems. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in the growth chambers without soil. Brio Green is producing Animal fodder feed in a climate-controlled facility year round using this technology. Brio Green Agro supplies farms and ranches with fodder feed.

Kola Masha’s Babban Gona supports smallholder farmers in Northern Nigeria with financing, agricultural input, training and marketing. Masha is leveraging his experience in both the private and public sectors to deliver solutions that are changing the lives of thousands of struggling farmers like Umar Magaji, a 35-year-old farmer, who owns 1.5 hectares and, as of this year, leases another 2.5 hectares. He plans to lease a further 2 hectares next year. Thanks to Babban Gona, he says, his yields are two to three times what they once were. He has refurbished his house, bought a motorcycle and enrolled his children in the village school. He is hopeful he can perform the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia within the next two years. 

Angel Adelaja, founder of Fresh Direct, has perfected an innovative approach to farming, in disused containers, without soil and with very little water. What she’s doing could very well be the start of an urban farming revolution in Nigeria. Also while visiting the Workstation Hub in Victoria Island, I had the pleasure of drinking Sola Ladoja’s fresh juice-‘Pick me up’  made by his start up Simply Green. Simply Green is a farm- to -bottle raw organic cold press juice company. Using organic and technologically harvested practices, meaning no chemicals or pesticides are used in growing their fruits and vegetables.

In beauty and high fashion, there is very little doubt that young Nigerians have captured and in some instances, dominating  local and international imagination. So the ground breaking pioneering works of Deola Sagoe and Lisa Folawiyo has spawned a whole new generation of Nigerian designers confidently using Nigerian and African prints  to make bold and unmistakable statements in high fashion. So today, Deola Sagoe has transformed the traditional  Yoruba Iro and Buba, by using laser cut Aso-Oke to create the now famous Komole, the toast of brides across the country. Lisa Folawiyo has on her part taken beaded African prints to new levels of creativity and both have inspired a new generation of designers like, Andrea Iyamah, and 31 year old Amaka Osakwe,  Maki oh! (started at 23) is celebrated in Vogue magazine and last year in the New Yorker as  West Africa’s most daring designer. Her use of adire in many collections  is  an intentional ploy to boldy redefine elements of culture. Orange Culture, Mai Atafo are also literarily making waves in Men’s clothing. 

In the beauty industry, Tara Fela-Durotoye, founder of the House of Tara and Banke Meshida, BM-PRO stand out as pioneers who have influenced a whole generation of beauty experts, and beauty products and opened a new vista in bridal make up. Tara’s training of hundreds of beauty experts and franchising of her House of Tara has created a whole new indigenously Nigerian beauty industry. This has created thousands of jobs for beauty experts and retailers. So now we see more ladies with their contours and highlights popping (on fleek – trend for good make up) Shomaya, (Elaine Edozien Sobanjo) Joyce Jacob have also  introduced Hollywood glamour to the Nigerian wedding make up industry.

By the way, what celebration today can beat the Nigerian wedding? from the make-up, dresses, to the decor, catering, cakes, party planning, and the photography; a whole new industry has developed by creative young people making an otherwise memorable event, even more memorable and linking ethnicities across the country in fashion and ceremony. Today everyone Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa, many others from different ethnic groups wear Aso Ebi, and their wedding ceremonies are becoming increasingly similar, not by a uniformity that results in loss of culture or tradition, but by a creativity that brings a standard while accentuating tradition and culture. The whole nature of the moderation, yet preservation of the traditional engagement ceremony is such testament to the depth of thought and creativity that has promoted, perpetrated and internationalized our tradition and values. The Nigerian wedding is becoming so popular that the film “Wedding Party” was a major international  commercial success. 

It is perhaps in the literary arts, especially the written and  spoken word  that we see the difficult issues of nation building most poignantly confronted by young people. A new generation of literary torchbearers have emerged. Talents like Chimamanda Adichie, Helon Habila, Teju Cole, Chika Unigwe, Chigozie Obioma,  Chibundu Onuzo, Abubakar Ibrahim, Eghosa Imasuen, Ayobami Adebayo, Elnathan John and many more, poets like Titilope Sonuga, Dike Chukwumerije, picking up the baton from the Soyinkas and Achebes. Their works expose the complications and the solutions to the issues associated with the mentality of persons in the post colonial state, a multi ethnic multi religious, society and underscore the question and process of emerging from these records and histories and building a nation therefrom. The reflection and introspection, their talents, boldness, precision, undiluted expressions and call to action invoke in us all is exactly what nation building and greatness is made of. They are not timid, and represent a growing class of sophistication and confidence that confront lingering post-civil war and even post colonial aches and pains. They highlight the hypocrisy of  ethno-religious barriers often set by the elite for selfish advantage and expose the underlying selfishness and failure of statesmanship that exploits fault lines for political and personal benefit. They highlight the cancer of systemic corruption and how it has eaten into the fabric of our society and cost us lives, years and retrogression.

These writers and poets explore, explain and humanize the difficult issues around social justice, the humiliation and delegitimization that poverty brings, and the failures of the rule of law. In Chimamanda Adichie’s “Half of a Yellow Sun,” one of the main characters, a University Professor, tells his houseboy: “There are two answers to the things they will teach you about our land: the real answer and the answer you give in school to pass. You must read books and learn both answers. I will give you books, excellent books. They will teach you that a white man called Mungo Park discovered River Niger. That is rubbish. Our people fished in the Niger long before Mungo Park’s grandfather was born. But in your exam, write that it was Mungo Park.”

This reminds me of one of the proverbs that Chinua Achebe popularized: “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” – an affirmation of the truth that nation-building is to a large extent about storytelling and the importance of telling our own stories and writing our own histories. Aniete Isong’s “Radio Sunrise” is a scathing indictment of bribery in the Journalism profession. That the watchdogs of our democracy are sometimes mere captives of corrupt politicians and that news and its analysis may often be paid for.  There is no doubt that grand corruption remains the most enduring threat to our economy.

Just to give an example, Three Billion US dollars was stolen in the so called Strategic Alliance contracts. Three Nigerians were responsible. Today 3 billion dollars is 1trillion Naira and our budget is 7 trillion!  When oil was selling at 100-114 dollars a barrel, the government spent N99b Transport and Agric got N15b and N14b respectively in total three ministries got N139b. Today with oil prices between $60 and 70 per barrel, Power Works and Housing in a year got N415b, Transportation N80b, and N65b for Agriculture totaling N560b. How come we can do more with less income? We are investing in infrastructure: started Lagos- Kano standard gauge railway, the Mambilla Hydro, the second Niger Bridge and so on. If you control corruption you can do more with less. 

Dike Chukwumerije, reminds us in his powerful poem the Revolution has no tribe that our destinies as Nigerians no matter our tribe or religion  are inextricably tied together. What affects one affects all. Suffering neither knows tribe nor tongue.

He says: 

“Do you not know that poverty is not an Ijaw man? He will not spare the rest of us and afflict only the Ishan. He will step over the river and come across the border. So, when the drums sound let everybody answer.

Do you not know that corruption is not from Nekede? He will not hear that Ife had no dealings with Modakeke. He will wake up all of our children at night with hunger. So, when the drums sound, let everybody answer.

Do you not know that our enemies have no face? They are indigenes of no state, they come from no place and, if this boat capsizes every one of us will go under. So, when the drums sound, let everybody answer.

Do not say, “I am an iroko”, when the forest is burning. Do not say, “I am an obeche”, when the forest is burning as our differences will not prevent us from perishing together. So, when the drums sound, let everybody answer.”

Nations are also built by the contributions of public servants, those who work for governments despite the relatively poor remuneration.

 Damilola Ogunbiyi was 28 when as the first female General Manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board, she supervised the building of the 5 independent power plants in Lagos State and was responsible for providing solar power to over 200 schools and primary health centers in the State. Today still under 40 years old, she is the first female Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, responsible for providing uninterrupted power to 37 Federal Universities and seven Teaching Hospitals. She has started the project to provide power to Nigeria’s largest markets. Already, the first phase of the project has been completed in Sabongari market in Kano, and the construction phase has been completed for the  Ariaria market in Aba. Afolabi Imokhuede handles the Npower programme, a major feature of the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme. The programme engages 200,000 graduates across all the States and the local governments . Its applications came through a portal developed by Softtcom,  a company of young Nigerian engineers. The process is completely transparent and you don’t need to know anyone to be engaged. Tochi Nwachukwu is the Special Assistant to the President on power privatization responsible for transmission, Ime Okon is a Senior Special assistant to the President advising on railways, roads, airports and other infrastructure projects. Mariam Masha, a medical doctor, and Senior Special Assistant to the President on IDPs and Bisi Ogungbemi, both have been working with IDPs in Maiduguri since August 2015. Recently they have been managing a newly built learning Centre and home for 1500 orphans in Maiduguri. There is also Mohammed Brimah who works on the North East Humanitarian technology hub, where ground- breaking innovation to tackle humanitarian challenges are developed.

But often forgotten are the excellent teachers in primary and secondary schools. Take the wonderful ingenuity and dedication of Emeafor Roland Chigozie, a secondary school teacher in the FCT, who has earned several awards for extraordinary efforts in raising our next generation. This Micro- Biology and Chemistry graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was named the best science teacher and recognized specially for exceptional performance in preparing FCT students in quiz and projects exhibitions. He also recently received another award for contributing to the 774 Young Nigerian Scientists Presidential Award competitions. As a chemistry teacher, the success rate of Emeafor’s students in the past 5 years of WAEC and NECO Exams ranged from 87% to 92%. There is also Doreen Osarobo Omoregie, a school teacher from Edo State, currently working in the FCT. She is a graduate of Chemistry Education, and she deserves this mention just because she consistently goes beyond the call of service in discharging her responsibilities. Even as a youth corper serving in a primary school, she organized a workshop for teachers on the use of primary science kits. She was soon able to take her school towards winning the award for the first best state school in Nigeria in science. Miss Omoregie herself was best science teacher in her school for three consecutive years. Quite remarkably, she was able to use her knowledge in producing items like soap, sanitizer, disinfectants etc which were used to protect students and teachers during the Ebola crises. I am amazed at the incredible work they do. 

These are the true nation builders, teachers, farmers, entrepreneurs, public servants, who work in this country, pay taxes, bear the hardships, but remain focused. They are the determined ones who never lose hope that change even if slow is possible and the only option, even when painful and unpopular. They are prepared to do their own part day by day. Their own dreams of greatness and their hardwork are the building blocks of our Nation.

 And how about the young men and women of the police and  armed forces who lay their lives on the line daily to protect us? The story of Late Colonel Muhammad Abu Ali, has been told often. As commander of the 272 Task Force battalion. His battalion was responsible for the recapture of Bama, Baga, Monguno and later Konduga in Borno State. He was decorated for bravery and excellence. He had become a terror to Boko Haram insurgents but he and four other soldiers were killed in an ambush. He was 36 years old, survived by his wife and three children. The story of late Sergeant Chukwudi Igboko went viral when he confronted armed robbers in a daylight robbery at a Zenith bank in Owerri, Imo State. He killed one of the robbers, the robbery was foiled but he and another officer Sgt Sunday Agbo died of the gun shot injuries they sustained during the attack. Both left wives and children. It is to these men and women who fight to defend our nation from terrorism, and crime that we owe the preservation of our nationhood. Some do not die but lose their limbs, their sight or hearing. The  widows, widowers and children  of these brave men and women bear the pain and anguish of loss by themselves for many years. 

And then there is the entertainment sector, whose main advantage lies in how it transcends tribe, tongue and location to bring joy to the screens of millions of Nigerians. Think of how much bliss the music videos of Clarence Peters and the bestselling comedies of Ayo Makun, Basket mouth, Akpororo, Chioma Emeruwa( Chi gal) Falz the Bad guy, Funke Akindele (Jenifa), and the multi talented comedian singer Kenny Black have brought to audiences at home and abroad. They proudly fly our flag and make us proud. But one of our favourites at the villa is Senator MC Toguwaye, “his excellency the President.” His impersonations of the President has him nearly falling off his chair with laughter. And then there is the newest generation, emerging as we speak on Instagram and WhatsApp. Lasisi Elenu (‘Somun just happen right now!’), Williams Uchemba (“You know I don’t like what I hate”). Stand up Comedy in  Nigeria  owes much to the pioneering efforts and mentor ship of Ali Baba. He literally created a whole industry. AY Ayo Makun is not just successful he has continually given a new generation of comedians a platform with his AY live shows. 

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said. “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity”. Few will deny the incredible dividends that  Nollywood has brought to Nigeria. Jason Njoku and his wife, Mary, owners of Iroko and Rock TV pioneered live streaming of Nollwood movies, taking Nollywood to the world. They have also provided opportunities for hundreds of production personnel and agents. For a lot of these, it is to Mo Abudu, founder Ebonylife TV which airs in 49 countries, and a prolific creator of high quality Afro-centric entertainment content, that pride of place must be given.  Mo Abudu has continuously sought to change the negative perceptions of Africa by telling Africa stories from an African perspective. Her project the “Wedding Party” became the highest grossing Nigerian movie.

Wherever you go in the world today, on airplanes or in department stores you can hear Nigerian music. The credit for taking Nigerian music to the world must go to stars like Tiwa Savage, Davido, Olamide, Wizkid, Waje and so many others. Their creativity and talent has benefited our nation’s image and put a spring to the steps of so many young and aspiring entertainers.  The credit for the discovery, grooming and production of many world class Nigeria acts and records, and building true Nigerian brands is to the likes of DonJazzy (Marvin records), and Banky W’s E.M.E.

As government our business is to create the environment for entrepreneurs to do business, so we are working on access to cheap credit, and on providing infrastructure,  especially power, greater broadband penetration. But the task of nation building is never done. The builders confront new problems daily. Today we are confronted with the remnants of Boko Haram terrorism, with farmer/herdsmen clashes, and the potential of ethno religious conflict, we have to feed ourselves, provide millions of new jobs, as every day more people are added to our population. The job of the builder is not to complain or escape, but to confront and solve. 

What can we do together to ensure that we don’t spend the rest of our days looking forward to the past, frozen by inaction, resolved to doing the same things over and over, and hoping for better results? I believe the solution is in building the Nigerian bridge. This bridge will not be built of steel or bricks and mortar, but it must be made of the strongest materials of all, our will to excel, our commitment to build a new society, men and women of a new Nigerian Tribe.

This is a bridge that connects us across tribes, ethnicities and dialects, a bridge that connects us across religion, politics and generations. Every one can travel on this bridge, this strong and steady bridge, a bridge that rises from innovation and traditions that span the troubled waters of our past. A bridge that will withstand the powerful forces of fear, division and exclusion. A bridge that can take the traffic of our best ideas, our creativity, our human and material resources daily to the destination of our national dreams. The bridge will be built with the wisdom of the elderly and the strength of youth. All of us deserve some accolades!

Released by:

Laolu Akande
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity
May 1, 2018

President Buhari’s Speech at a Meeting with Stakeholders in the Rice Value Chain

I am very pleased to receive you today. Firstly, let me congratulate the farmers, the processors and the rice dealers for all the successes you have achieved to date.

Specifically, I want to thank you for believing in this Administration and our commitment to economic diversification and inclusive growth.

Your investments of over Three Hundred Billion Naira are located in some of the most remote, and indeed, most forgotten parts of the country. And a significant percentage of these investments were made during the recession. This shows you have great confidence in our policies and programs.

Our vision, as a Government, has always been to promote and support programs that will bring investments to these rural areas.

Not too long ago, our nation was predominantly driven by the rural economy. Indeed, Nigeria’s backbone was built by the farmers.

Somehow, we as a society abandoned the Agriculture sector of our economy. Agriculture became an afterthought and we forced our farmers into poverty.

Thankfully, Nigerians have now woken up to the fact that it is an embarrassment for us, as a nation, to import most of what we eat, given the great natural gifts of our country.

We have the fertile land, we have water and the manpower to feed ourselves. Therefore, we have no reason to import essential foodstuffs.

When we came in 2015, there were thirteen rice mills in Nigeria. Twelve of these were built between 2009 and 2015. This was an average of two mills per annum.

But my team and I felt more could be done. And we put in place measures and policies to unlock the potential of this sector and thus, increase the rate of investments.

You will all recall that in November 2015, I was in Birnin Kebbi to launch the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers program and also kick off the dry season rice farming. Since then, the Vice President and I have commissioned a record number of agricultural projects and programs. From rice, to wheat, to cashew, to animal feed, to fertiliser, to drinks processing and many more.

And very soon, I will also be commissioning a sugar estate. These projects are all over the country and worth billions of Naira. Clearly, our policies are working.

From your presentation today, you have shown that between 2016 and 2018, eight new rice mills have come on stream. This is equivalent to four new mills per annum. Our paddy production and productivity has also doubled compared to 2014 levels.

This achievement just confirms what we all know. That when Nigerians are committed to execute a task, it gets done.

I am particularly proud of how the narrative has changed. Agriculture is now seen as a financially viable sector. Many Nigerians, especially the youth, are choosing agriculture, as a profession.

We have former Governors, Ministers, legislators and major entrepreneurs moving into agriculture. Not as a hobby. But as a viable business that will generate income.

So when we have the youth, the enabling environment and the entrepreneurs, all coming together with the same vision, Nigeria certainly cannot lose.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding today between the farmers, millers and rice dealers is the natural next step.

The coming together of these three stakeholders is a major step forward. Specially, I want to recognise the wholesalers and distributors who today, by agreeing to promote Nigerian products over imports, have demonstrated a welcome patriotism.

Your commitment has guaranteed that the 11 million Nigerian farmers will remain employed. And I want to assure all of you that this Government will not let you down. We will also do our bit to ensure you are able to sell quality Nigerian rice at an affordable price.

We are committed to providing quality inputs at affordable prices. Some weeks ago, I met with the Fertiliser Producers Association, during which I urged the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Commercial Banks to support agro dealers with affordable funding that will enable them to provide quality inputs to the farmers at affordable prices, hoping to continue lowering the farmer’s production costs.

This Administration has been providing enabling environment, which led to the successes achieved to date. We shall continue to fight the smugglers at the borders and in the markets. We will also continue to invest in infrastructure to further lower the cost of operations.

Therefore, I want you to meet with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister of Finance and the CBN Governor to discuss your proposal further. I am confident we can work together to develop an implementable program that will bring down the price of Nigerian rice to the consumers.

I am impressed by the tremendous, but understated contributions of the small scale millers. These entrepreneurs must be supported. I am hereby directing the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to engage with the State Governments, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bank of Agriculture to develop a support mechanism for these small scale millers.

I want to thank the Governor of Kebbi State for his unwavering commitment to the rice value chain and indeed, Agriculture as a whole. He has become a true ambassador for rural economic development.

I also must congratulate the CBN Governor for successfully managing the Anchor Borrowers Program. Your collaboration and commitment with other Agencies for the development of agriculture is a clear example of the alignment between the fiscal and monetary policies.

We must acknowledge the tremendous work done by the Nigerian Governors, as well as members of the National and State legislatures in pushing agriculture. I want to encourage you all to continue to push this agenda. This will be our legacy for generations to come.

I will be inaugurating a National Food Security Council that I will personally Chair. The council will include Governors, Ministers, Security Agencies and key stakeholders across the entire agricultural segments of farming, fisheries and livestock management.

Our experiences today of clashes between farmers and herdsmen or the challenges fishermen face due to global warming and other environmental factors clearly demonstrates that our quest for food security has a direct link to our national security objectives. The Food Security Council will ensure alignment and bring efficiencies.

I want to assure all Nigerians that this Administration is committed to Nigeria feeding itself. And from what I have heard today, this can happen in not too distant future.

As I look forward to receiving your joint proposal, I wish all Nigerian farmers, a very successful 2018 wet season.

Thank you.

Speech: Vice President Osinbajo at NIPSS 2017 Graduation Ceremony

It is a special pleasure to be here at this graduation ceremony, of the Senior Executive Course 39 of 2017 of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, and I bring you the very warm felicitations of President Muhammadu Buhari, President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  I congratulate the participants of Senior Executive Course 39, for your excellent performance and your elevation to the privilege of Member of the National Institute, MNI.

Your presentation to Mr. President last week, Friday 17th November, on the theme “Science, Technology and Innovation for the Development of Agriculture & Agro-Allied Industries in Nigeria,” was both scholarly and practical, and will be an important reference in refining and implementing policy in this important area.

I also congratulate family and friends, and especially spouses of participants on this joyful occasion.

NIPSS occupies an important place in our national policy discourse, especially through its policy-relevant training and research outputs.  Notably, the NIPSS alumni provide a patriotic repository of knowledge that is very often deployed in support of national development objectives.

Today’s event is significant.  It is at once a celebration of success, and in many ways, also symbolic of the opportunities that will arise from completion of a year of rigorous learning and reflection, for you, and the Federal Government. And it also provides me an opportunity to share some thoughts on the trajectory of our national economic development with the Nigerian policy elite, to which distinguished group, you now rightly belong.

I am going to focus on the economy, where we are, and where we are heading in the next 12 months. What are the policy choices we have made? Why have we made those choices? Are those policy choices working?

From the very beginning of our administration when Mr. President asked me to head the economic management team, he made it clear that in his view, the major reason for the slow development of our nation and the poverty of millions of our people, was corruption and mismanagement of public funds & resources. And that fighting corruption and mismanagement of public resources was as much an economic imperative, as it was a law and order issue. I agreed.

We, from that point, put in place structures that would ensure prudent and transparent management of resources. In July 2015, the President ordered that all MDAs funds should be paid into the Treasury Single Account. This ended years of MDAs keeping secret bank accounts, in some cases putting public funds in fixed deposit for interest far below market rates. Banks would then lend money back to government by buying treasury bills at substantially higher interest. Today, government knows exactly how much we have, and we are saving significantly.

Early in 2016, an Efficiency Unit was set up under the Federal Ministry of Finance to reduce wastage, plug leakages and foster greater fiscal transparency.   The Efficiency Unit has enforced several deliberate cost-cutting measures including the removal or reduction of sitting allowances for civil servants in many cases, and saved over 1 billion a year, stopping the procurement of souvenirs, and printing for government programmes, we saved another N1billion.

By reviewing travel expenditures, and negotiating procurement discounts, we saved N15billion. We have also removed or reduced meals and refreshments for meetings, and saved another N1billion annually.

We stopped the siphoning of funds through ghost workers by insisting that all MDAs must be on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) across government, and also mandated the use of BVN. Over 461 Federal MDAs have been captured on the system thus far, with the objective being able to enroll all of them. We are now saving N25billion a month, from cleaning up the payroll in this way. The President has also ordered all Armed Forces personnel to be captured on IPPIS.

It is important to understand, what these measures to block leakages and stealing of public resources mean for economic performance. I will demonstrate that impact.

When we came into office, over 22 States were owing salaries. They were owing despite the fact that between 2011 and 2015, Nigeria earned its highest ever revenues from oil. Oil was selling at between $100 and $115 a barrel. Yet reserves between 2014 and 2015 fell from $35billion to $28billion in April 2015. When we came into office, oil prices fell as low as $28 a barrel, the unrest in the Niger Delta, especially the vandalization of pipelines and oil and gas assets reduced the production at some point by over a million barrels a day. Revenues dropped by as much as 60%.

But with 60% less revenue, we started a series of bailouts for the States, to enable them pay salaries and pensions. With 60% less revenue, we were able to provide about N1.3trillion for capital expenditure, the largest amount for capital in our nation’s history.

For the first time in five years we saved $500million, and invested another $500million in the Sovereign Wealth Fund. Today our external reserves stands at $35billion the highest in the past four years.

We have made the point, that Nigeria is not poor because it has no resources, it is poor because a lot its resources are stolen or mismanaged. We can do a lot more with far less, if we don’t allow stealing.

Now let us for a moment, reflect on where the Nigerian economy is today. The economic focus and direction of the Buhari administration is set out in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan – the ERGP.  The plan is based on a set of principles, broad principles, and certain key action points including eliminating corruption in government procurement and processes, prudent management of resources, social inclusion, overcoming constraints such as power, petrol and skills shortages, promotion of the private sector, and use of the market mechanism where possible.

We have worked hard to keep faith with these crucial principles. In particular we are committed to ensuring that Nigeria does not return to the years of corruption and waste, where people at the highest levels of government simply converted to private use, funds and public resources meant for the building of public infrastructure and the provision of services.

We must pay attention to what we are seeing today, and some of the shameless noises of those who brought our nation to its knees, many of whom still have looted funds in their possession, trying to rewrite history and hoodwink the populace again. We say never again!

Distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen, today, regarding our economy, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The darkness is giving way to the light. Let’s begin with the macroeconomic story.

The decline in growth which started in 2014, has been reversed with the third quarter figures released earlier this week, showing that the economy has truly exited recession with the growth of 1.4%.

A further analysis of the Q2 2017 GDP results indicates that the recovery was driven largely by the performance in agriculture, industry, solid minerals and crude oil and gas production.  Agriculture, which is a main focus of this administration, as stated in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), grew strongly throughout 2016 despite the contraction in the overall economy, continued to grow in 2017 recording a 3.06% growth in Q3 2017.

Industry which had contracted for nine consecutive quarters, but recorded its first positive growth of 1.45% in Q2 2017, and it has grown stronger in Q3 2017, growing by 8.83% compared to a contraction of -12.66% a year earlier. This represents the strongest growth in industry since Q2 2014, when industry grew at a similar rate of 8.97%.

The oil sector also grew strongly, partly due to actions of government which has led to stable oil production and an improved situation in the Niger Delta, as well as oil prices remaining steady. Oil production GDP grew very strongly by 25.89% in Q3 2017 compared to 3.53% in Q2 2017, and a contraction of -23.04% in Q3 2016.

Inflation continues to fall from a peak of 18.72% in January, to 15.91% today.  Similarly, as noted earlier, our reserves are now at about $35 billion while the exchange rate regime has been stabilized. We are confident that the Naira will continue to appreciate.

One of our biggest priorities as a government was making the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable amongst us better. Right from the presidential campaigns that preceded our coming to serve, we had made it very clear that we would be a government for the poor and vulnerable. We designed an ambitious Social Investment Programme to accomplish this, comprising four initiatives; a jobs’ scheme for unemployed graduates, a micro-credit scheme targeting SMEs, a Home-grown School Feeding Scheme, providing one free meal a day to primary school pupils, and a Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme for the poorest Nigerians across the country.

The Social Investment Programme kicked off a year ago, with the recruitment of 200,000 young Nigerian graduates for the first phase of N- Power. These young people have been deployed across the 774 Local Government Areas of the country, as Teaching Assistants in public primary schools, Public Health Assistants in primary health centres, and as Agricultural Extension Service Assistants in various agricultural programmes.

Today, a year later, we have just pre-selected an additional 300,000 young unemployed graduates, and they will be further engaged in the N-Power programme.

The Home Grown School Feeding Programme now provides a free, nutritious meal, one a day to over 5 million children across 19 States, and our target is 5.5million children before the end of 2017.

In addition to providing nutrition for children in the first three years of primary education, the school feeding programme buys food from local farmers, and employs almost 55,000 cooks in 28,249 schools.  Other participants in the food value chain such as processors and transporters also benefit indirectly from this programme.

While we were laying the groundwork of the rollout of the Social Investment Programmes, we began to aggressively invest in plugging Nigeria’s huge infrastructure gap. One of the reasons why we are where we are today, is that over the last three decades, we failed to invest substantially in infrastructure to any appreciable degree, even as our population grew.

Much of the funds that should have been invested in infrastructure simply cannot be explained. We wasted no time addressing this. Even at a time when our resources had dropped dramatically, and with little by way of savings, we invested in roads, railway and power projects.

Work resumed on several projects that had been abandoned or suspended before we took office. We completed and commissioned the railway line connecting Kaduna to Abuja, the first Standard Gauge line in Nigeria. The Abuja Light Rail project, which was only half-completed when we inherited it, is now almost ready to go into operation. When completed it will be the first functioning urban light rail in Nigeria.

Our successful engagement with the Chinese Government has yielded fruit; construction has started on the Lagos -Ibadan segment of a new Standard Gauge railway line between Lagos and Kano, and will soon commence on the coastal railway from Lagos to Calabar, which will open up the Southeast and Niger delta in unprecedented ways. We are now providing in the 2018 budget, the commencement of work on the Mambilla hydro-electric project.

However, even if we invested our entire annual budget on infrastructure, it would not be enough to fill the gap. So as a government it was clear, that the greatest impact would come from the efforts of private capital, while we act as enabler and catalyst, creating an environment conducive for investors and businesses.

This is why we have revised and prioritized the Road Trust Fund, to enable private firms to partner with the Federal Government to build, repair, and maintain roads in return for tax credits.  Meanwhile, work continues on the long overdue Second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, and other major arterial roads like the Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Birnin-Gwari-Kaduna Road, and the Enugu-Port-Harcourt Road to mention  a few.

The power sector has always been one of historic concern. This dismal situation was due to factors including inadequate generation, limitations in transmission capacity and financing constraints. The problems associated with the privatization exercise itself has manifested serious constraints in the ability of the DisCos to reinvest in electrical assets.

Despite major investments of time, effort and resources, power supply remained in the region of about 3000MW.  We tackled these issues, and although still vastly inadequate, power supply and transmission capacity has moved up to 7000MW. There is good cause to believe, that we will achieve the 10,000MW envisaged in the ERGP, through policies enabling off-grid solutions and eligible customer arrangements.

So the problem today is not with generation, it is with distribution. Many of the DisCos are rejecting power transmitted to them. They claim that they are unable to sell because of the losses from collection, and the poor state of distribution assets such as transformers, last mile transmission lines and metering.

These investments should ideally be made by the DisCos, but many are so highly leveraged that they can’t borrow anymore. We are exploring several options including selling down equity in the DiscCs to attract more capital.  We are also completing   some transmission and distribution projects that may be game changers in power supply story. But easily the clearest demonstration of our belief that the private sector, including MSMEs, must be enabled as they are the engines of economic growth, will be seen in the Ease of Doing Business Reforms which we embarked upon in 2016.

Our goal has set by Mr. President, was to move Nigeria by 20 spaces upwards in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Rankings. After a year of intensive reforms, including a National Action Plan, an Executive Order, two Acts of Parliament, and other initiatives, we surpassed our 20-place target.

The improvements we brought to Nigeria’s business climate include the simplifying of business registration processes, implementing a Visa on Arrival procedure, enabling better access to credit by the creation of National Collateral Registry, and the Credit Risk Bureau both set up by Law. This earned us a 24-place improvement as well as a designation as one of the ten most improved countries in the world.

The lesson from this is that, consistent and dedicated effort will produce results. This is the underlying theme of all the work we have put into the economy in the last two and half years.

In Agriculture, we were enthused by the remarkable progress so far. Throughout the recession, agriculture maintained a solid growth area, due to policy interventions by the Government.  The Anchor Borrowers’ Programme has provided financing to tens of thousands of smallholder farmers, enabling them to maximise harvests, as well as connecting them to off-takers and markets.  Up to N5 billion, has been disbursed in support of almost 250,000 smallholder farmers, across 31 states, with coverage of 286,000 hectares.

Although it is still early days, there are appreciable results in nine commodities namely; rice, wheat, maize, cotton, fish, soybean, cassava, groundnut and poultry. The focal point however remains rice, because of our aim for food security and to reduce the huge amount of foreign exchange used in importing food, especially rice. Rice imports have now dropped by 70%, and we are producing over 7million MT of paddy rice today. The question of course is milling, we are not measuring up, and we are still recording very low figures in terms of actual production of rice.

The Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) which President Buhari launched in December 2016, has directly led to the resuscitation of 15 Moribund Fertilizer Blending Plants, and to the production, this year, of more than 7 million bags of NPK Fertilizer, which is now available to our farmers at prices well below what they paid before the PFI.

Taking the lead from government’s commitment to agriculture, the private sector has also undertaken major investments in agriculture and agro-processing. Up to 300,000 metric tonnes per annum of rice milling capacity has been added in the past 12 months, including the WACOT factory in Kebbi State, and Umza Rice Mill in Kano.  Upcoming ones include the investments by the Labana and Dangote Groups amongst others. Dangote alone is investing in milling capacity of 1million MT. The President also recently commissioned OLAM’s N20billion integrated feed mill and hatchery in Kaduna.

In Solid Minerals, we succeeded in tapping into the Natural Resources Development Fund, to create a dedicated fund for supporting investment in solid minerals in Nigeria. This is the first time that this is happening in Nigeria. Moreover, work is ongoing to fully exploit the bitumen resources in Ondo State, to meet national asphalt requirements for roads and other construction projects.

To consolidate on these efforts, we have also established a N30billion Solid Minerals Development Fund to support other minerals exploration activities across the country.

I have spoken about what we set out to do and what has been done so far.  Let me now speak to some of the forthcoming actions in the year ahead.

To start with, the Federal Government sees 2018 as a year of consolidation of the economic recovery, and the gains from improved macroeconomic management, and the extensive investments made in agriculture, infrastructure and the business environment. We are diversifying our options in power supply.

Our programme of energizing industrial clusters has started. That project involves providing power in existing small business clusters. For our first batch, we will be providing independent power in certain markets; the Ariaria Market in Abia State, the Somolu Printing Community in Lagos State, the Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi (Sabon Gari) Market in Kano State. This power is independent power which will guarantee constant supply 24/7. We intend to take batch by batch some of this projects to encourage small businesses.

Also we have provided in both the 2017 and 2018 budgets, funds for what we have described as the energizing education project. This involves providing independent power in the following universities in the first batch; the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi, Bayero University in Kano, Usumanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto, Federal University of Agriculture in Makurdi, Federal University, Ndufu Alike, and Nnamdi Azikwe University in Anambra, University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University and Teaching Hospital, Federal University of Petroleum in Delta State.

Our emphasis going forward, will be on job creation, through scaling up of the social intervention programmes, to include artisans, but also through a massive construction effort with regard to homes and revitalization of the manufacturing sector.

Jobs are central to our purpose for revitalizing the manufacturing sector. The focused attention we have given to promote agriculture will be replicated in the manufacturing sector.  We recognise of course that electricity is critical for this sector and this is being continually addressed.

We already have policies for the automobile and tomato processing sectors, and we will continue to fine-tune other sectoral policies. In addition, we are focused on ensuring the take-off of a Special Economic Zones in six geo-political zones, dedicated to textiles and footwear for exports, and on ensuring adequate, and affordable financing to enhance the operations of manufacturing concerns. We have already provided N80billion in the 2018 budget for this Special Economic Zones.

Jobs are also the reason why we will be fast-tracking the implementation of the Family Homes Fund. It is an important programme for providing housing in the coming year. Our intention is to use this programme to create a large number of jobs in construction, and as well to promote widespread home ownership by providing affordable housing to be paid for through a sustainable mortgage financing system.

The coming year, will see even greater movement to fully utilise the oil and gas value chain. The private investments in refineries, petrochemical plants, fertiliser factories will be complemented by more gas projects, especially critical pipeline infrastructure and greater penetration of LPG in the domestic market. The start-off of modular refineries in the Niger Delta is part and parcel of this work programme. Up to 35 communities and their investor groups, have reached the right to invest stage and three of them are already preparing to ship their facilities for installation.

Our emphasis on supporting micro, small and medium scale enterprises, is largely because the sector is also critical for job creation.  We will continue with the MSME clinics which are being followed up with the creation of one-stop shops for Federal Regulatory Agencies across all the States of the Federation.  We will by this means reduce some of the costs and the regulatory obstacles that MSMEs face in trying to do their business. The MSME programme now goes hand in hand with the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme which provides micro loans to cooperative societies and artisans.

Our recent experience has shown that Government revenues are quite low for the size of our economy and inadequate to fully meet related societal demands.  Our total tax collection is just 6% of Gross Domestic Product, as compared to an African average of 17%. We are accordingly taking all necessary steps, to increase Government revenues through the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), excise taxes and improved collection of taxes.

Government will also ensure better management of its resources, through cost efficiencies, automated payroll systems and leveraging of its assets to ensure better returns.  The decision to reduce Federal Government holdings in Joint Venture operations, in a case in point. By this means, we will not only be raising revenues to help fund Federal and State budgets, we will in addition also be improving governance in the oil and gas sector.

In a similar context, as the case of JAMB has shown there is substantial under-remittance to the Federal Government by its parastatals and agencies and we will be putting a stop to this using the results of a forensic audit being undertaken as well as greater scrutiny and oversight by the Economic Management Team.

The infrastructure projects that I have mentioned will of course continue to be the focus of attention, until they are completed across power, roads, rail, airports and broadband infrastructure. The 25 road projects in all six geopolitical zones to be financed by the recently issued N100 billion Sukuk Bonds, will be closely monitored to ensure that they are delivered in good quality by the specified date.

Our efforts to improve business conditions will continue apace.  We must always bear in mind that the purpose of our efforts on the ease of doing business, is to promote the private sector and provide the right atmosphere for firms to operate profitably in order to grow the economy and provide jobs for the unemployed and those joining the labour market.

Thus while we continue to bask in the improvements in our ranking, and the citation of Nigeria as one of the 10 best reforming economies in the world, we realize that our task is far from being done and will remain focused on the ERGP objective of being in the top 100 countries in terms of ease of doing business by 2020.  Until the average Nigerian has food on his table, has a job and is satisfied with the life that he is living, we are far from preparing any kind of celebration.

One of the principles underpinning our economic planning that is often overlooked is the commitment to upholding core values. Our desire for change must translate into strengthening ethics especially patriotism, integrity, ethnic and religious tolerance.

We must strive to build a fair, just and equitable society, that prefers investment to consumption, thrift over waste and which celebrates integrity over corruption.  These values are not only morally right, but they are also essential underpinnings for restoring growth, investing in our people and building a globally competitive economy.

May I conclude by extending warm congratulations, to the participants graduating from NIPSS today.  I have no doubt that you will all be returning to your respective duty stations full of insight and understanding of our national policy space. I urge you to deploy the knowledge gained here in support of the national development efforts in whatever positions you find yourselves. The proof that you have a role to play in evidenced by the very vibrant, committed and forward looking Alumni Association that you have joined.

In similar vein, we must commend the Acting Director-General and Faculty of NIPSS to whom has been given the critical task of developing the Nigerian policy infrastructure, and for their commitment to maintaining the dynamic spirit of Kuru. The Federal Government is aware of some of the challenges that the Institute continues to face, we are committed to resolving them.

Thank you for your kind attention.