SUNDAYNEWS Buhari: We’re Committed to Tackling Nigeria’s Economic Monster
FG to engage fresh 300,000 unemployed graduates for N-Power
President Muhammadu Buhari has again blamed the poor state of Nigeria’s economy on the manifold corruption and mismanagement of resources in the past, but however assured citizens that his administration has put structures in place to check the hydra-headed monster.
Comparing Nigeria to the international community which focuses on investment on a global scale, the President said, “We are where we are today because of our failure to invest.”
Buhari, who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN yesterday spoke at the graduation ceremony of the Senior Executive Course 39 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, near Jos, Plateau state.
Buhari mentioned one of the measures as the Treasury Single Account (TSA) which he said succeeded in blocking the financial recklessness and leakages in the nation’s economic system.
He said in July 2015, government ordered that all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should open one account where the federal coffers will go to, noting that this has yielded positive results as government can now boast of what it has in the account “as ghost workers have been flushed out or reduced to the barest minimum, while money is being saved”.
He added that it is because of the economic measures taken by government to tackle corruption head-on that Nigeria is exiting from financial recession, adding also that government has made agriculture its focus in order to diversify the economy.
The president expressed happiness that the price of rice has dropped drastically, pointing out that all the moribund fertiliser plants have been revived. He asserted that government is seeing 2018 as the year of many plans, as government is encouraging more industries thereby creating jobs for the teeming unemployed citizens of the country.
On security, he said government is doing all it could to cage and crush the remnants of the Boko Haram insurgency in the country, while appealing to the people to be tolerant of other religions.
To the participants, the President urged them to deploy the knowledge gained at the institute to help the nation in whatever capacity they find themselves, admitting that government was aware of the hardship the institute is facing and is committed to addressing them.
Earlier, the acting DirectorGeneral of NIPSS, Mr. Jonathan Juma, congratulated the 66 participants on their successful completion of their course. He ap- pealed to government to approve special financial intervention for the institute to enable it to address the myriad of problems confronting it.
In a related development, Prof. Osinbajo also disclosed that the federal government has concluded plans to engage fresh 300,000 unemployed graduates for the second phase of its NPower programme.
Osinbajo stated this in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital at the official launching of the state branch of the Government Enterprising and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and MSME One-Stop Shop programmes organised by the federal government in collaboration with the Bank of Industry for traders, artisans and other medium and small-scale business operators.
He said the 300,000 graduates would be employed to make the beneficiaries 500,000, having engaged 200,000 previously.
The Vice President explained that the government came up with the idea of the GEEP and MSME One-Stop Shop programme to make it easier for those who run medium or small-scale enterprises to access loan and operate without encumbrances.
He said the One-Stop Short facility would provide services of regulatory agencies like the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and explained that the facility would operate as a centre for making enquiries on manufacturing and operation of businesses.