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Nigerians will praise Buhari after his tenure in 2023 – Femi Adesina

Mr. Femi Adesina

The Presidency says by the time President Muhammadu Buhari completes his tenure in another two years, Nigerians will praise him for his achievements.

Mr. , the President’s spokesman, stated this in a special write-up on the achievements of the President Buhari administration as it clocks six years today, May 29, 2021.

The statement released on Friday was titled, ‘The Buhari Administration at 6: Counting the Blessings One by One’.

According to Adesina, the Buhari administration is recording giant strides, enough to make Nigerians proud.

The presidential aide said the sixth anniversary of the administration affords the opportunity to reflect and recount the impact that has been made (and is being made) on different sectors of national life.

He said: “From infrastructure to finance, education, healthcare, sports, anti-corruption, human development, housing, oil and gas, foreign relations, and many others, the Administration is recording giant strides, enough to make Nigerians proud.

“That is, those who are dispassionate and fair-minded, not beclouded by political partisanship and undue cynicism.

“Some people claim: we don’t see what they are doing. We don’t hear about it. Well, here it is. A Fact Sheet, a report card on the Buhari Administration, just a bit of the successes, as the milestone of six years is attained.

“As it is said, the past is but a story told. The future may yet be written in gold.

“When the Administration breasts the tape in another two years, by the grace of God, the applause will be resounding, even from the worst of sceptics.

“Facts are undeniable, and always remain so. They are stubborn things.’’ The presidency listed the achievements to include:

INFRASTRUCTURE

-Presidential approval, in 2020, for the establishment of InfraCo Plc, a world class infrastructure development vehicle, wholly focused on Nigeria, with combined debt and equity take-off capital of N15 trillion, and managed by an independent infrastructure fund manager.

– Establishment in 2020 of the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), with more than $1 billion in funding so far.

– The Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has seen total additional inflows from the Government of around US$2 billion under the Buhari Administration

– since the original US$1 billion which the Fund kicked off with in 2012.

– Launch of the Nigeria Innovation Fund by the NSIA, to address investment opportunities in the domestic technology sector: data networking, datacenters, software, Agri-tech, Bio-tech, etc.

 

RAIL

– 156km Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail nearing collaboration.

 

AGRICULTURE

– Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP): The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria, launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 17, 2015, has made more than 300 billion Naira to more than 3.1 million smallholder farmers of 21 different commodities (including Rice, Wheat, Maize, Cotton, Cassava, Poultry, Soy Beans, Groundnut, Fish), cultivating over 3.8 million hectares of farmland.

– Presidential Fertilizer Initiative: Launched as a government-to-government partnership between the Nigerian and Moroccan Governments, in December 2016, the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) produced ~12million 50kg bags of NPK 20:10:10 equivalent in 2020, bringing total production since inception to over 30 million 50kg bags equivalent; and number of participating blending plants increased to 44 from three at inception.

– Special-Agro Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Programme: A partnership between FGN, AfDB Group, and other stakeholders including IFAD and BOI.

Under the SAPZ programme, agroprocessing centres will be established across the country.

The agro-processing centres will be provided with basic infrastructure such as water, electricity and roads as well as facilities for skills training. Seven (7) States and the FCT selected for the pilot phase, due to commence 2021: Ogun, Oyo, Imo, Cross River, Kano, Kaduna, Kwara.

– The Green Imperative – a Nigeria-Brazil Agricultural Mechanisation Programme aimed at boosting agricultural production in Nigeria.

The National Assembly has approved a loan for the financing of the program, which will involve the development of 632 privately-operated primary production (mechanisation) Service Centers and 142 Agro processing (value addition) service Centres across the 774 LGAs, and the reactivation of 6 privately owned partially-operational or moribund tractor assembly plants nationwide. It will also train 100,000 new extension workers.

SOCIAL INVESTMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION

– In 2016, President Buhari launched the National Social Investment Programme, currently the largest such programme in Africa and one of the largest in the world.

Currently, the National Social Register of poor and vulnerable Nigerians (NSR) has 32.6 million persons from more than 7 million poor and vulnerable households, identified across 708 local government areas, 8,723 wards and 86,610 communities across the 36 States of the country and the FCT.

– From this number, 1.6 million poor and vulnerable households (comprising more than 8 million individuals, in 45,744 communities from 5,483 Wards of 557 LGAs in 35 states and the FCT are currently benefiting from the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, which pays a bimonthly stipend of N10,000 per household.

– In January 2019, President Buhari launched Nigeria’s Micro-Pension Scheme

– which allows self-employed persons and persons working in organisations with less than 3 employees to save for the provision of pension at retirement or incapacitation.

– Establishment of Survival Fund, National Youth Investment Fund, and National Special Public Works Program (774,000 beneficiaries across 774 LGAs nationwide), and the Central Bank’s Covid-19 300 billion Naira Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) – more than 150 billion Naira disbursed so far – to support millions of small businesses, households and young people, with federal grants, loans and stipends.

– The Buhari Administration’s Survival Fund has provided its grants (Payroll Support, Artisan and Transport Sector grants, and General MSME grants) to more than 800,000 beneficiaries, since the last quarter of 2020. It has also provided free business registration to more than 200,000 MSMEs across the country.

– Presidential approval for the establishment of the Nigeria Investment and Growth Fund (NIG-Fund), in 2021.

– As at the end of 2020, Development Bank of Nigeria (which commenced operations in 2017) had disbursed 324 billion Naira in loans to more than 136,000 MSMEs, through 40 Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs). (57% of the beneficiaries are women-owned MSMEs while 27% are youth-owned).

– Bank of Industry has disbursed more than 900 billion Naira in loans to over 3 million large, medium, small and micro enterprises, since 2015.

– In January 2019, President Buhari launched Nigeria’s Micro Pension Scheme

– which allows self-employed persons and persons working in organisations with less than 3 employees to save for the provision of pension at retirement or incapacitation.

EDUCATION AND HEALTH

– Since assuming office, the Buhari Administration has committed more than N1.7 trillion of capital intervention to Nigeria’s tertiary institutions, through various means, including TETFund – with the universities taking the lion share of the total amount.

– The Federal Government has disbursed more than 170 billion Naira in UBE Matching Grants to States and the FCT since 2015, 8 billion Naira in Special Education Grant to States and private providers of Special Education, and 34 billion Naira from the Teachers Professional Development Fund to States and the FCT.

– Launch of the Alternate School Programme (ASP), designed to ensure that every out-of-school child in Nigeria gains access to quality basic education, irrespective of social, cultural or economic circumstance, in line with the aspirations of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4).

– Presidential approval for a new (extended) Retirement age of 65 and Length of Service of 40 years for Teachers in Public Basic and Secondary Schools in Nigeria (both effective January 1, 2021), as well as a new Special Teachers Salary Scale (effective January 1, 2022), and also a new Special Teachers Pension Scheme.

– Reduction in the number of out-ofschool children, by 3,247,590, as at 31st December, 2020, achieved through a World-Bank financed program known as ‘Better Education Service Delivery for All’ (BESDA). 1,792,833 of that number achieved through formal schools while 1,454,757 are through non-formal interventions such as Almajiri, Girl-Child, Nomadic/Migrant and IDPs Education).

– Under the World Bank-supported Innovation Development & Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) Project,approved in 2020, US$200m will be invested in 6 participating States (Abia, Benue, Ekiti, Gombe, Kano, Edo) as well as 20 Federal Science and Technical Colleges nationwide.

Implementation will be stepped-up in 2021 to afford millions of Nigerian youths the opportunity to acquire hands-on skills to effectively contribute to national development.

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