Buhari blames poor resources management for poverty, insecurity
President Muhammadu Buhari, Tuesday said if assets and resources available to Nigeria were properly managed, the country would be prosperous and peaceful.
He however blamed the poverty and insecurity the country was experiencing on decades of neglect and poor resource mismanagement.
The President spoke Tuesday at State House, Abuja, while receiving in audience the board of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, led by the group chairman, Emmanuel Ikazoboh.
The President, who stressed that government remained com
mitted to the goals of securing the country, ensuring inclusive economic growth, and fighting corruption, noted that Nigeria was in a unique position as the most populous and resource-rich nation on the African continent to be great, if the resources were properly harnessed and managed, to engender a prosperous and peaceful country.
The President said his government was not only determined to reverse the trend of squander-mania and mismanagement, saying, “We have made progress in some areas such as agriculture.”
He, therefore, appealed to Ecobank Transnational Incorporated to “institute a special fund to develop agriculture, which will cement your legacy as a bank that helped to transform this region’s economic fortunes.”
President Buhari commended Ecobank for being active in promoting financial inclusion, noting that it was key to the government’s diversification agenda.
On requests by the bank for decongestion of Apapa ports and rebuilding of the transnational Lagos-badagry-seme road, the President assured of his administration’s efforts to restore sanity at the ports and environs, saying, “We are aware and are working in all those areas, and by the grace of God, you will start seeing results during my second term in office.”
Speaking earlier, Ikazoboh disclosed that the Ecobank Group was in 36 countries in Africa and 40 globally.
The bank, founded 30 years ago by private sector entrepreneurs, has over 20 million customers, with over eight million of them in Nigeria.
On what the bank is doing to support SMES in the country, the Ecobankchiefsaid,“we’veimproved the capital of Ecobank in Nigeria. In the last six months, we have brought in about $150 million, all to drive borrowingsandsupportingthesmall and medium enterprises.”
He said President Buhari’s recent re-election was a testimony of the hard work done, adding that reforms embarked on by the administration across sectors, “will have deep, long-term impact on Nigeria, West Africa, and Africa.”