Buoyed by eight quarters of consistent rise in the country’s Gross Domestic Product and a 2.7 percent growth projection for 2019 by international economic institutions, President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said Nigerians should see better prospects in the economy.
This positive projection is also boosted by external reserves of $45 billion, enough to finance over nine months of the nation’s current import commitments.
The President, while delivering his Democracy Day speech at the Eagles Square in Abuja, noted that “with leadership and a sense of purpose, we can lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.”
A cross section of Nigerians however believe that the event which was organised to celebrate the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Moshood Abiola, should not be used for cheap political gains only.
The President, who announced that his administration was laying a solid foundation and taking bold steps in transforming the country, said the policies are focused on “liberating the people from the shackles of poverty.”
Some of the steps include integrating rural economies to the national economic “grid” by extending access to small-scale credits and inputs to rural farmers, credit to rural micro-businesses and opening up many critical feeder roads.
On the small-scale enterprises in towns and cities, the President promised to expand facilities currently available to encourage and support domestic production of basic goods and reduce reliance on imported goods.
“For the next four years, we will remain committed to improving the lives of people by consolidating efforts to address these key issues as well as emerging challenges of climate change, resettling displaced communities and dealing decisively with the new flashes of insecurity across the country, and the impacts on food scarcity and regional stability.
“We are not daunted by the enormity of the tasks ahead. Instead, we are revived by this new mandate to work collaboratively with State and Local Governments, Legislators, the Diplomatic Corps and all Nigerians to rebuild and reposition our country as the heartbeat and reference point for our continent.”
Government is also relying on the positive performance in agricultural and industrial outputs, which have recovered since the recession, even as it has promised to work with the private sector to improve productivity and accelerate economic growth.
“The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index which is the gauge of manufacturing activity in the country has also risen for 26 consecutive months since March 2017, indicating continuous growth and expansion in our manufacturing sector,” the president said.
Buhari, who lamented that “it still takes too long for goods to clear at our seaports and the roads leading to them are congested, added that: “It also takes too long for routine and regulatory approvals to be secured.
“These issues affect our productivity and we are committed to addressing them permanently,” he promised.
The President while also acknowledging the existence of a strong correlation between economic inequality and insecurity, said that when economic inequality rises, insecurity rises.
“But when we actively reduce inequality through investments in social and hard infrastructure, insecurity reduces.
“The disturbing increase in rates of kidnapping, banditry and other criminal activities can be attributed to the decades of neglect and corruption in social investment, infrastructure development, education and healthcare,” he said.
A cross section of Nigerians, including major players in the aborted June 12 elections, such as Segu Osoba, Ifeanyi Uba, Olabisi Durojaye, as well as Marc Wabara, urged government to embark on public enlightenment and strengthening democratic institutions so that Nigerians can imbibe the true values of the June 12 message.
Segun Osoba commended President Buhari for “helping to fulfil the dreams of MKO Abiola,” adding: “l am happy to be alive to witness this day.”
“Sergeant Rogers had confessed that twice, they attempted to kill me” adding: “You can check out his confessions.”
For Ifeanyi Uba, “the celebration is a fulfilment for us. I was detained for my roles in agitating for the actualisation of June 12 and for Abiola to be declared the winner of that election.”
Olabisi Durojaiye, while narrating his own ordeals in the hands of Abacha’s men, said he was made to “sleep on bare floor and subjected to all sorts of humiliations, because we wanted June 12 actualized.”
Marc Wabara however described as “depressing and denial of social justice to assume that June 12 is a purely South-West Affairs.
“Chief Abiola was a philanthropist to a fault. He was a giver, promoter of national unity and love. We need to emulate him, in love and in giving, most especially to the poor and needy in our society,” Wabara said.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
