Press Release: President Buhari Signs Three Bills

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 assented to the following Bills:

1. Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy (Establishment) Bill, 2017. The college to be sited in Enugu, is to provide courses of instruction leading to the award of degrees, diplomas and certificates in dental technology, dental therapy and related courses.

2. Air Force Institute of Technology of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill, 2017. The Institute to be situated in Kaduna, is to give technical training to the personnel of the Nigerian Air Force and other services of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Nigerians and citizens of other African countries.

3. National Intelligence Agency Pensions (Establishment) Bill, 2017, is to administer the pensions scheme for personnel of the Agency, sequel to the exit of the Agency from the application of the Contributory Pension’s Scheme under the Pension’s Reform Act, 2004.

Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity)
December 6, 2017.

Press Release: President Buhari Congratulates Wizkid, Davido On Awards

President Muhammadu Buhari congratulates renowned hip-hop artistes, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, WizKid, and David Adedeji Adeleke, Davido, on their awards at the Music of Black Origin (MOBO).

President Buhari joins the teeming fans of the artistes in Nigeria and all over the world in celebrating the highly deserved and meritorious recognition, which saw WizKid winning “International Best Artitse’’ award, while Davido picked the “Best African Act’’.

The President affirms that both singers have showcased the rich talents in the country, and brought pride to the nation through their many songs and performances, commending their dedication, hard work and charity works.

President Buhari also calls on the upwardly mobile artistes to be cautious and mindful of likely distractions to their careers, urging WizKid and Davido to serve as ambassadors of the country and role models to upcoming musicians.

Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President (Media& Publicity)
December 1, 2017

Speech: President Buhari’s Address at the Inauguration of the Tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee

We are gathered here today to address issues concerning the welfare of the Nigerian people. Like his counterpart all over the world, the Nigerian worker is a vital element in the growth and development of modern nations. I therefore welcome the nominees of the Tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee who have been selected for the very important task of renegotiating the National Minimum Wage for our workers.

We all know that the last Minimum Wage Instrument has expired, and it is in recognition of the need to ensure a fair and decent living wage that the Federal Government put in motion necessary mechanism so that we can today inaugurate this large committee with a big task ahead of you.

You are all aware that during the period following the increase in Petrol Pump Price in May 2016, a Technical Committee was established to examine and make recommendations to Government on the measures to be adopted to cushion the envisaged painful effects of the increase on workers and the Nigerian populace at large.

During the deliberations of the Technical Committee which comprised Government and Organized Labour, the need for the review of the National Minimum Wage was highlighted and recommendation to set up a committee to look into the level of minimum wage was made accordingly. I am glad that the recommendation is being acted upon today and we can all acknowledge that this is in line with our democratic process. I wish to thank all those who participated in that exercise.

Considering the scope of the membership of this new National Minimum Wage Committee we can see that it is encompassing all stakeholders. My hope is that, the outcome of the deliberations of the Committee would be consensual and generally acceptable. I therefore urge you to amicably consider the issue of a National Minimum Wage and all matters that are ancillary to it with thoroughness and concern not only for the welfare of our work-force but the effect on the country’s economy.

The subject of a National Minimum Wage for the Federation is within the Exclusive Legislative List of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). Accordingly, we should aim to go above the basic Social Protection Floor for all Nigerian workers based on the ability of each tier of Government to pay.

I say this because minimum wage is the minimum amount of compensation an employee must receive for putting in his or her labour and as such should be anchored on Social Justice and Equity.

Government’s decision after considering your final recommendation will be sent as an Executive Bill to the National Assembly for it to undergo appropriate legislative scrutiny before passage into law.

As is evident by the membership of the Committee, State Governors and Private Sector Employers are part of this process. This will ensure ease of implementation of a new Minimum Wage nationwide.

I am hopeful that the principles of full consultation with Social Partners and their direct participation would be utilized by the Committee, bearing in mind the core provisions of the International Labour Organisation Minimum Wage Fixing Convention No. 131 and Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery Convention No.26 (ratified by Nigeria).

Accordingly, conditions of genuine Social Dialogue should prevail in the spirit of Tripartism and Collective Bargaining Agreements. I therefore enjoin you all to collectively bargain in good faith, have mutual recognition for each other and always in a spirit of give and take.

The Committee is expected to complete its deliberations and submit its report and recommendations as soon as possible to enable other requisite machinery to be set in motion for implementation of a new National Minimum Wage.

I wish you fruitful deliberations and I am very happy to inaugurate this Committee.

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.

Press Release: Buhari-Administration’s Social Investment Programmes in the Niger Delta

The Buhari administration, in line with its New Vision for the Niger Delta to develop it, will integrate more youths in the region in its Social Investment Programmes, particularly the N-Power and the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP), according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo said this will help reduce unemployment by creating more jobs for young graduates, as well as providing additional assistance for entrepreneurs and artisans in the region.

The take-off of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State, ongoing process of licencing for modular refineries and the Ogoni clean-up are indications of the Federal Government’s resolve to ensure the long-term development of the region, while it will also continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure continuous peace and security in the region, the Vice President added.

Prof. Osinbajo said this on Thursday when a delegation of ambassadors from the US, UK and the European Union (EU), led by Mr. Ketil Karlsen, paid him a courtesy call on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Vice President noted that the Federal Government has made a lot of efforts in engaging the communities and towards improving peace and security in the region since President Muhammadu Buhari first met with Pan-Niger Delta Elders Forum, PANDEF, and stakeholders in the region last year November.

Prof. Osinbajo further emphasised that the Buhari administration’s New Vision for the Niger Delta is aimed at developing the region through its partnership with state governments, the local communities and private sector.

The Vice President noted that the vast majority of people in the region want sustained peace and security.

He said, “Our engagements with PANDEF and various groups in the Niger Delta is a continuous one; an Inter-Ministerial Committee was set up for this. Practically every other week, we are in some form of engagement or the other. The overriding motive is that of those who wish to see progress in the region. What we have been doing so far is to ensure that we meet the demands of the people for development.

“The Maritime University has practically taken off, we have placed advertisement for staff; the sum of N1 billion has been given by the Federal Government, and there is N5bn allocation for the University included in the 2018 budget. Also, a lot has been done in the ongoing Ogoni clean-up process.”

In his remarks, the Ambassador/Head of the EU Delegation, Mr. Ketil Karlsen, commended the Vice President for his personal leadership in driving engagements and the Buhari administration for its efforts in promoting peace, security and development in the region.

“We acknowledge that significant progress has been made, in the Ogoni clean-up process, Maritime University, and the development of a Strategic Implementation Work Plan for the Niger Delta. We are also encouraged by the peace-making efforts,” Karlsen said.

While adding that the EU will look at ways of providing support for the Maritime University, Karlsen noted that it was important for the Federal Government to sustain its long–term commitment in order to build trust with people in the region.

Also present were the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru Usani.

Other representatives of the EU at the meeting include the French Ambassador, Denys Gaver; Italian Ambassador, Stefano Pontesilli; Netherlands Ambassador, Robert Petri; German Deputy Ambassador, Regina Hess; EU Deputy Head of Delegation, Richard Young; as well as British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright; and the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
24 November 2017

Press Release: Highlights of 82nd NEC Meeting

An Ad-Hoc Committee of the National Economic Council has reported back to the Council that a number of revenue-generating agencies may have significantly under remitted returns to the Federation Account. This was disclosed earlier today at the monthly NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

The Council had previously ordered the forensic audit to review remittances of the agencies covering 2010 to May 2015. While Council received an updated interim report today, a final report is awaited next month.

The Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, also informed the Council that a list of about 500 Nigerians with property and trusts abroad has been obtained to determine their tax compliance status at home.

She explained that such Nigerians can take advantage of the Voluntary Assets & Income Declaration Scheme, VAIDS, to settle past taxation defaults.

Letters would soon be going out to these Nigerians, including a number of prominent ones, asking them to take advantage of the tax amnesty in order to avoid prosecution and fines by simply paying up their tax defaults. The amnesty is available till March next year.

Highlights:

A. PRESENTATION BY THE NEC COMMITTEE ON EXPORT PROMOTION BY JIGAWA STATE GOVERNOR, CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE

The NEC Ad-hoc Committee set up in September, 2017 to advise Council on export promotion submitted its report.

The report dwelt extensively on an export promotion plan geared towards achieving government’s policy on the “Zero Oil Plan”.

The Committee recommended, among other things;

1. The establishment of a National Committee on Export Promotion, chaired at the Presidency level.
2. A Technical Committee involving Federal and States MDAs to help provide technical information and direction to the proposed Committee.

The Ad-hoc Committee also recommended;

1. That Export procedures and documentation be streamlined.
2. The identification of existing domestic investors and engagement plan for output expansion.
3. ​The establishment of more laboratories and tasting centres to help improve quality and standard of export.
4. The domestication of the Office of Technical Regulation (OTR) as recommended by UNIDO.
5. On Market for Nigerian products, the Committee recommended the Deepening of Commercial diplomacy, one-stop shops for export and a National Export Portal to generate global orders to link suppliers to buyers.
6. On Value Chain Development, the Committee recommended the development of clusters along product value chain, market driven research and development, and the provision of seeds and seedlings.
7. On Financing, the Committee recommended the recapitalization of NEXIM Bank, the provision of Export Development Fund, in line with NEPC Act, a five-year financial window on export expansion grant and funding scheme for exporters similar to the CBN Anchor Borrowers programme.
8. The Ad-hoc Committee also recommended a one-state-one-product approach based on comparative advantage for export drive.
9. The establishment of State Committees on “Zero Oil Plan Implementation” with State Governors as Chairmen was also recommended.

B.​ INTERIM REPORT ON THE FORENSIC AUDIT OF REVENUE ACCRUED FROM REVENUE GENERATING AGENCIES INTO FEDERATION ACCOUNT, EXCESS CRUDE ACCOUNT AND CONSOLIDATED REVENUE FUND BY GOVERNOR OF GOMBE STATE, CHAIRMAN OF THE AD-HOC COMMITTEE

The forensic audit covers the period from 2010 – May 2015.

The Council was informed that there were possible significant under-remittances from certain Revenue Generating Agencies to the Federation Account, among other accounts.

Council was also informed of questionable loans granted by some of the Revenue Generating Agencies.

Out of the 18 Agencies in which forensic audit was conducted, the Committee completed work on 13 Agencies, 2 are ongoing and 3 are not revenue generating.

The 13 include: NIMASA, NNPC, NPA, FIRS, NPDC, DPR, etc. The 2 outstanding agencies are the Customs Service and NCC.

Council directed the Committee to conclude its report under 4 weeks and fully report back to Council in the next meeting

C. PRESENTATION OF A PROPOSAL BY THE NATIONAL AGENCY FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING INFRASTRUCTURE (NASENI) ON SOLAR-POWERED ELECTRONIC VOTING SOLUTION, WITH CLOUD-BASED COLLATION OF ELECTION RESULTS

The Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the NASENI presented a home-grown proposal to the NEC for the replacement of the “Card Reader” in the conduct of elections in the country.

The proposal is a made-in-Nigeria “Solar-Powered Electronic Voting System” to effectively mitigate current electronic woes.

The new proposed robust e-voting device will minimize human interference with the electoral process.

The same proposal, which has already been presented to INEC, is also expected to be presented to the National Assembly.

D1. UPDATE ON STATE OF THE ECONOMY BY BUDGET AND PLANNING MINISTER

​The Minister of Budget and National Planning gave an update on the economy as follows:

Signs of recovery had been observed since Q3 2016 and the Recovery consolidated in Q3 2017, with GDP doubling to 1.40%

Non-oil GDP contracts in Q3 2017 increased by 0.76% after growing in Q1 R Q2 2017, while the Services Sector is still in the negative; the Manufacturing Sector was negative in Q3 2017 also.

Due to high inflationary pressures, household consumption expenditures remain constrained, though it appears such pressure is easing.

Headline inflation has declined since January – reflecting tight monetary policy.

Food price increases have remained persistent but slowing down.

The total value of capital importation at the end of Q3 2017 stood at $4.14 billion (131.3% growth year-on-year).

D2.​ REPORT ON EXCESS CRUDE ACCOUNT (ECA)

The Accountant General of the Federation informed Council that balance in the ECA as at November 17, 2017, stands at $2,309,693,583.35

D3. ​UPDATE ON THE BALANCE OF THE STABILIZATION FUND ACCOUNT

The Accountant General informed Council that as at November 17, 2017, the balance in the (SFA) stood at N6,689,072,836.11

D4. UPDATE ON NATURAL RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT FUND ACCOUNT

The Accountant General informed Council that the balance as at November 17, 2017 stand at N100,314,169,190.23

D5. UPDATE ON BUDGET SUPPORT LOAN FACILITY

The Accountant-General reported to Council that approval has been received and CBN has been directed to pay N800 million to each of the 35 States of the Federation.

Governors expressed appreciation to the Federal Government for the restoration of the Budget Support Loan Facility for July and August, 2017.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS (AOB)

A. ANAMBRA GOVERNOR ELECTION

The Governor of Anambra State commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in the State.

B. VAT

The Honourable Minister of Finance informed Council that the month of October 2017 has recorded the highest amount of VAT collections ever recorded in the country in a single month, standing at over N89 billion.

She told Council that Government is targeting N120 billion on a monthly basis in the coming years.

C. VAIDS

Is progressing very well and the target is likely to be met.

A list of about 500 Nigerians who are believed to have under-declared their assets has now been obtained.

VAIDS offers an amnesty opportunity for such and all tax defaulters.

D.​ BURIAL OF FORMER VICE PRESIDENT

The SGF, Boss Mustapha, informed Council that the FG has set up a National Burial Committee for former Vice President Alex Ekwueme.

The Committee would be chaired by the Office of the SGF with the full participation of the Anambra State Government and the Ekwueme family

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
23 November 2017

Press Release: FG Set to Improve Infrastructure

President Muhammadu Buhari has emphasized the determination of his administration to speed up the improvement of aviation infrastructure in the country for the benefit of the country’s economic development.

Speaking while receiving the President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Muyiwa Aliu, at the State House, Abuja on Monday, President Buhari declared his total support and commitment to work with regulatory agencies in the aviation sector to make air travel safer throughout the country.

The President, who received three awards recently won by Nigeria from ICAO, expressed delight with the high ranking accorded Nigeria in safety and security at the airports, following measures put in place to address gaps in airport security.

On the setting up of a national airline, President Buhari said he was under tremendous pressure from many patriotic Nigerians desirous of establishing one.

“I equally support a national airline for both patriotic and economic reasons. We have enough trained citizens including pilots and engineers. But Nigerians need to know how we lost the one we had before,” he said, referring to the defunct Nigeria Airways.

The Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who led the ICAO delegation, informed President Buhari that the Nigeria was hosting the meeting of International World Aviation Forum in Abuja starting on Tuesday, the first time such conference will hold anywhere outside Montreal, Canada.

He said over 40 aviation ministers and representatives from 70 countries, the World Bank, African Development Bank, manufacturers of planes and aviation equipment will attend this year’s conference focusing on “Financing Development of Aviation Infrastructure.”

The President of ICAO, who is a Nigerian, commended President Buhari for fast-tracking policy initiatives that changed the fortunes of air travel in Nigeria, describing the reconstruction of the runway at the Abuja airport as a rare feat.

On behalf of the ICAO, Mr Aliu presented a certificate of recognition of the School of Aviation, Zaria as a regional center of excellence; the certification of both Abuja and Lagos airports which have attained ICAO standards for the first time in history, and another certificate marking the attainment of the International Organization for Standardization ISO 9001, 2015 by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency.

Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity)
November 20, 2017.

Press Release: Press Release: The National School Feeding Programme now feeds over 5 Million Pupils Daily; Collaborates with Ministry of Health for De-worming Exercise

In furtherance of its goal to tackle poverty and hunger, and to create jobs for Nigerians in line with its inclusive growth plan, the Buhari administration’s National Home-Grown School Feeding (NHGSF) Programme is now in 19 states across the federation. They include Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Jigawa and Niger states.

So far, over five million pupils (5,226,039) in 28,249 schools in these states are currently been fed under the programme, while Kano and Katsina states are expected to be added to the beneficiaries states in the coming weeks.

Also, over 50,000 cooks are currently engaged under the programme.

The school feeding programme, which is part of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s N500 billion National Social Investment Programmes, NSIP, has a target to feed 5.5 million schoolchildren by the end of 2017.

Meanwhile, the School Feeding Programme is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Health to deliver an integrated deworming programme for pupils in all public primary schools classes 1 to 6 across 17 states currently under the NHGSFP in the country.

At least 243 Local Government Areas will benefit from the deworming exercise in the 17 states, including Abia, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Niger, Osun, Bauchi, Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Anambra, Benue, Imo, Kano, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Delta and Plateau states.

The integrated programme, which is scheduled for the first and second week of December in these states, will deliver three different drugs for the treatment of diseases endemic to specific states; particularly schistosomiasis; soil-transmitted helminths and river blindness/onchocerciasis. The drugs to be distributed are Albendazole, Ivermectin and Parazaquintel.

Supported by the Federal Government, three facilitators would be within the states for the period to achieve these objectives and ensure that the pupils in these states are dewormed.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
20 November 2017

Press Release: Presidency Welcomes Latest GDP Figures

In a clear indication of ongoing progress, the Nigerian economy has improved further, according to the latest GDP figures just released by the National Bureau of Statistics, with oil, agriculture and industrial sectors leading the charge.

The Buhari administration welcomes the new growth figures, and will continue to work diligently on a daily basis to ensure inclusive growth, to which we have always been committed through the active pursuit of a raft of policy initiatives, past and present.

Such initiatives include but not limited to the Social Investment Programmes, Anchor Borrowers Scheme, longstanding Budget Support Facilities to the States, plus other bailout packages, ensuring the comprehensive payment of workers’ salary & pension backlogs among others. Equally, the Federal Government will be ramping up the implementation pace of the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan.

Below is the Statement of the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, after the Q3 figures were released:

“The latest NBS GDP figures show that the Nigerian economy grew by 1.4% year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter of 2017 (Q3 2017). This is a steady continuation of the positive growth of 0.55% (now revised to 0.72%) experienced in Q2 2017 and reinforces the exit from the 2016 recession.

“The positive growth in Q3 is consistent with the improvements in other indicators. Foreign exchange reserves have risen to nearly $34 billion while stock market and purchasing managers indices have also been positive.

“The naira exchange rate has stabilised while inflation has declined to 15.91% from 18.7 in January 2017. While inflation is not declining as fast as desirable, it is approaching the estimated target of 15.74% for the year in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

“Agricultural growth was 3.06% in the third quarter of 2017, maintaining the positive growth of the sector even when there was a slow-down in the rest of the economy.

“The industrial sector grew at 8.83% mostly due to mining and quarrying. The oil sector grew very strongly as forecast in the ERGP and partly as a result of the policy actions in the plan to restore growth in the sector.

“The service sector is yet to recover but should soon begin to be positively affected by the improvements in the real economy and the effects of the dedicated and focused capital spending of over N1.2 trillion on infrastructure by the Federal Government.

“It is expected that the economy will continue to grow given these developments and the reform, and improvements in the business environment shown by the upward movement of 24 places in the recently released World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Rankings which was better than the target of 20 places specified in the ERGP.

“The overall picture that emerges is that the economy is on the path of recovery. As inflation trends downwards, and with steady implementation of the ERGP, real growth should soon be realised across all sectors in a mutually reinforcing manner.”

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
20 November 2017

Speech: VP Osinbajo’s Remarks at the Book Presentation of President Buhari Administration’s Achievements

This book is a book that contains a lot that has been achieved by the present administration, but I must say there is still a lot that has not been covered on account of the fact that this book was meant to have been presented in May but we thought we would wait until the President returned before presenting it.

Some things have not been included in the book and I might just supply some of that. One of such things, is the exemplary frugality, the honesty and humility, and sense of humour of Mr. President.

That frugality can sometimes be a problem, as you know, Mr. President decided that since government provides accommodation, food and transportation for the President and the Vice President, we didn’t need a full salary. Now how much is this salary by the way? It is public knowledge and I think it is N1, 750,000.00 or so, which is under N2million. He said he would take only half of his salary and so I had no choice but also to take over of my own salary. Unfortunately Mr. President turned down my request, to give the other half to a worthy cause – his Vice President. He didn’t consider me a more worthy cause to give half of his salary! (Laughter).

In a country where politicians sometimes want to be as wealthy as Dangote, it is refreshing to have a President who most people won’t even dare to discuss any private benefit on a project let alone a bribe or a kick-back.

Nigeria’s major problem is corruption, it is the main reason for the depletion of our resources, such that we had no savings when oil prices fell, and we were losing over 1billion barrels a day.

It was the prudence and honesty of the President that ensured that despite the economic downturn, we were able to support the States, spend N1.3trillion on capital expenditure, the largest in the history of the nation, and also to ensure we met all our other obligations, both foreign and local.

Mr President’s unassuming personality and humility, is in my view, probably his greatest strength. This is why he is never flattered, or carried away by praise or adulation. He has always said: “I don’t pretend to know all the answers. I am here to provide stability and leadership, to a generation, a group of people, determined to run this country honestly, to provide jobs and prosperity to the poor, and our huge youth population.”

I remember when he was on medical vacation, and I was speaking to him on the phone fairly regularly and giving him a rundown of what was going on, especially when he was on the first medical vacation. He said to me, “don’t worry about telling me all that is happening, I rely on your judgment keep doing your best, what if I drop dead?! You would have to run it anyway.” I had to say to him, that his dropping dead was not part of the plan.

I think that his sense of humour, self-deprecating humour is one that very people know about. As it has been said, he is a man of very few words. I remember that very early in the administration, he directed my attention to a cartoon of him in one newspaper which showed him, sitting on a wheel chair in bandages, at the top of the cartoon, were the words: “you promised to hit the ground running” and then under it, it just stated: “you just hit the ground.”

I had a good laugh, but I think it is also an understanding that leadership, is not about self-adulation and self-aggrandizement. It is first of all, an understanding and humility, knowing that you have been picked from millions of people to lead the people because you are trusted to do so, not because you are thought of as a man with all the answers but because you are trusted to be able to lead others to achieve the results.

The other day, he was saying that if you paid attention to what is going on with farmers, and how well they are doing, he said one way of knowing is by recognising that they would do two things, especially farmers in the North. They would go to Hajj and marry more wives. Already, we can see the increase in the number of wives farmers are marrying.

Mr. President, your Excellencies, the ultimate benefit of public service, is the ability to touch millions of lives for good or for ill, by governmental policies and actions.

The reality of honest and serious minded nation building is that in the short- run, tough and unpopular decisions have to be made.

The greatest challenge is how to take the tough decisions, do the difficult things, and keep the people’s support. I suppose you cannot be a Buhari and shy away from tough decisions, and the President has not been afraid to take the bold decisions even when they are criticized.

What has happened so far under this government is the tough business of laying strong foundations. The first, is honesty and good governance, and prudence in government spending. The second, is in ensuring that we have an infrastructure that can sustain our economy, not now, but in the next decades. For the first time, in at least a decade, we are spending 30% on capital expenditure.

As I have said earlier, we are investing heavily on rail, roads, power, and other infrastructure. When you look at rail, we are investing perhaps, the largest portion of our capital on two rail projects; the Lagos – Kano rail project and we are concessioning the Narrow Gauge, where we are building the new Standard Gauge. There is also the Lagos – Calabar route and we have also recently approved the Port Harcourt – Maiduguri route.

We expect, that our country will need railways, to move the massive goods and services that we have been talking about producing all this while. Already, our roads are suffering seriously. If you look at some of what is going on around the Apapa port today, the port is already over-subscribed, almost taking twice the custom that it should ordinarily have, and that is increasing day by day. Each of these rail projects starts from the ports, all the way up to the various destinations that I have mentioned.

Third, is that we are focused on agriculture and the agro-allied value chain, with our focus on cheaper and improved inputs, local fertilizer production, cheaper credit for farmers in the anchor borrowers programme.

Productivity in the agricultural sector is at an all-time high. Rice imports have dropped by 70%, and we are fast becoming one of the largest producers of paddy rice in the world. Agriculture is providing more jobs than ever before, as it contributes more to GDP.

More investments are coming into Agriculture. WACOT, a few months ago opened its 120,000 metric tons rice mill in Kebbi State. Indorama has also its opened 3million metric tons fertilizer plant in Rivers State, which was commissioned a few weeks ago, Dangote is investing in a total capacity of 1million metric tons of rice mills. Olam’s poultry and feed mill which recently opened in Kaduna, is the largest in the country.

It is evident, that the private sector is listening, and smart money is following what government is doing. It is very clear that we are opening up the space for industry and manufacturing. You can see that from the response of the private sector and even in technology. A lot of the young people are coming in to do various forms of businesses now that they can see that the space is opening up.

Our philosophy as enunciated in the Economic and Recovery Growth Plan, is to enable the private sector to lead the economy in industry and manufacturing, and especially small businesses.

Of course, you have seen from the results of the World Bank’s rating of Ease of Doing Business, we are making very deliberate progress and we are moving very quickly indeed. I think the point that we should note is that, the World Bank declares us as one of the top ten reformed economies and I believe that investors are paying attention to this. You can only reform with serious discipline and I want to say that the leadership of the President has provided that discipline and we are seeing the results of this.

Executive Orders have been signed on making a priority made-in-Nigeria goods in procurement. This is one of the very important policy decisions that the President made, that we must prefer made-in-Nigeria goods.

In addition, we are giving priority to ensuring that pre-investment approvals are efficiently and quickly done. We also have an Executive Order for that, we are also working hard to ensure that Public Service is responsive and diligent, and it does not become an obstacle to investment and to the economy, rather a facilitator. Some of these are contained in the book.

I want this audience in particular, to recognise that every single day, there is attention being paid to the needs and requirement of this country. We are a government dedicated to ensuring that we give the very best that is possible to the people of Nigeria.

I would like to congratulate the Presidential Communication Team, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Mr. Femi Adeshina, Mr. Laolu Akande and all of the team that worked very hard and have continued to work hard spending many hours on how to communicate the views of this government and its activities as well and as comprehensively as possible.

I thank you all for your attention, God bless you.

Released by:
Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
November 16, 2017