Evidently, President Mohammed Buhari has evolved a pragmatic blueprint (change agenda) for the capacity to live and develop Nigeria, and three years of the holistic implementation of the change agenda of this current administration is beginning to bear fruits that will not only benefit Nigerians in the short run but in the long run, it will lay a solid foundation for the real resurgence, stability and sustainability for growth and development of this great country.
Looking at the current situation of Nigeria dispassionately, it is safe to say that President Buhari is not only breaking old barriers that have militated against the growth and development of this country. In recent times, the President has undertaken numerous international journeys, where he had exhibited brinkmanship;he also had the opportunity of interacting with other world leaders earning for Nigeria a renewal, trust and respectability from other nations of the world; based on his impeccable integrity, transparency in governance, fight against corruption, massive developmental strides and willingness on his side to tackle Nigeria’s myriad of problems and proffer solutions accordingly, thus setting us on the path of global reintegration and restating our position of importance amongst the comity of nations. This is just one amongst the glaring achievements of Buhari.
Since President Buhari took over power in 2015, he had ensured the reinvigoration of far reaching reforms into some sectors that hitherto had been left to lay comatose, completion of abandoned projects, resurgence of the economy, handling of security issues, fight against corruption, et al.
Some of President Buhari’s achievements include but are not restricted to the following: bringing back the Nigerian economy on to the path of growth after the recession of 2016-17. One of this administration’s priority sectors that maintained consistent a level of growth throughout the recession are the agriculture and solid minerals sectors.
Inflation has fallen for the fifteenth consecutive month while the nation’s external reserves are at their highest levels in five years, currently double the size of October 2016.
“The new FX Window introduced by the CBN in April 2017 now sees an average of $1 billion in weekly turnover, and has attracted about 45 billion dollars in inflows in its first year, signalling rising investor confidence in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Stock Market ended 2017 as one of the best-performing in the world, with returns of about 40 percent.
five million new taxpayers were added to the tax base since 2016, as part of efforts to diversify government revenue.
Also, tax revenue increased to N1.17 trillion in the first quarter 2018, a 51 per cent increase on the first quarter 2017 figure.
Consequently, about N 12.7 trillion was spent on infrastructure in the 2016 and 2017 budgets, “an unprecedented allocation in Nigeria’s recent history”.
The revitalisation of 14 moribund blending plants under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, and the tripling of revenue to the Federation Account from solid minerals has been undertaken by the current administration in Nigeria.
The revenue tripled from N700 million in 2015 to N2 billion in 2016, and again rose to N3.5 billion in 2017. Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which was launched by Mr Buhari in April 2017, has stabilised the macroeconomic environment; achieved agricultural and food security and has also ensured energy efficiency especially in power and petroleum products.
The ERGP has improved transportation infrastructure and industrialisation primarily through the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
In the area of monetary, fiscal and trade policies, the APC administration created a new Foreign Exchange window for investors and exporters in April 2017 which has helped stabilise the market and increase subscription for Nigerian stocks by foreign portfolio investors. The new Window has attracted inflows of more than $45 billion in its first year of operation.
The Buhari administration inherited N2.1 trillion in debt, with N5.4 trillion annual servicing cost, and had reduced the debt service on this inherited debt to N3.9 trillion in 2016.
The debt refinancing strategy is paying off as treasury bills rates have dropped from 16-18% to 10-2% over the last year.
The Sukuk Bond which raised N100 billion used to fund 25 major road projects across the country is of the debt related issue. We also have the first ever Diaspora targeted Eurobond that has raised $300 million used to fund part of the 2017 budget.
In a bid to ensure that states were able to meet their salary and pension obligations, especially in therapy of dwindling oil revenues over the past two years, the FG under Buhari extended N1.9 trillion to State governments. The support to State governments was from the budget support facility, Paris Club refunds, infrastructure loans as well as restructuring for facilities with commercial banks.
Under the current administration’s agriculture revolution, Nigeria’s milled rice has increased from 2.5 MT to 4 MT, and rice exports from Thailand to Nigeria drastically dropped from 1.23 million MT in 2014 to 23,192 MT as of November 2017.
The development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) has finally taken off with an initial funding of $1.8 billion, to provide medium and long term loans to MSMEs. The DBN has already distributed N5 billion to 20,000 MSMEs, through 3 finance banks.
Nigeria has moved up 24 places on the World Bank ease of doing business ranking in 2017 and earning a place on the list of most improved economies, this predicated on the Ease of Doing Business reform programme through the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (inaugurated by Buhari in 2016) and the Enabling Business Environment Secretariat (EBES).
the Federal Government had released N1.219 trillion for capital expenditure in 2016 budget, and N1.476 trillion in 2017 budget, making a total of N2.7 trillion (about $9 billion) in two years. A classic case of doing more with less resources, similarly, the government even at a time of low oil prices and dwindling income has grown and doubled Nigeria’s external reserves from $24 billion to $49 billion since October, 2016.
Emphatically, the Buhari led government has shown overwhelming consignment to edifying and developing the transport, power and health infrastructures in Nigeria.
The government launched the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) in May, 2018 under the management of Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority. The PIDF is kicking off with a seed funding of $650 million.
The NSIA has invested $10 million to establish a world class center at the prestigious Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and $5 million each in Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital and Federal Medical Center, Unusual to establish modern diagnostic centres, in March, 2018. The centers are expected to be completed before the end of 2018.
It is also noteworthy of mention that the Abuja Airport runway recreation was successfully completed within the scheduled six weeks period (March-April 2017).
Considerably, the power sector under the current administration, has witnessed a remarkable increase by more than 2000MW of additional power generation capacity by the end of 2017. This increase was achieved via publicly owned plants (Adam fast power) and through the private sector investment supported by the Federal government (Azura).
In the bid to achieve a robust power sector, the government launched a N701 billion payment assurance programme designed to resolve the liquidity challenges in the power sector by guaranteeing companies and gas suppliers.
Obviously, there was a transmission expansion and rehabilitation programme which has resulted in a 50% expansion in grid capacity since 2015, from 5000MW to 7,125MW as at December 2017.
The implementation of Distribution Expansion Programme (DEP) which was approved by the Federal Executive Council in February 2018 to deliver 2000MW of unused power capacity to consumers in need, has commenced.
The Buhari administration has made investing in people one of the pivotal priority in its change agenda and consequently, all four components of the Social Investment Programme (SIP) have now taken off.
The SIP is the largest and most ambitious social safety net programme in the history of Nigeria, with N140 billion released and more than a million direct beneficiaries are currently participating and receiving N30,000 monthly stipends.
Another 300,000 new enrolments are being processed to take the number to 500,000 this year. For the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), N15,183 billion has been disbursed in interest-free loans to market women, traders, artisans, farmers across all 36 states of the country and the FCT. I’m November 2017, GEEP was chosen as a pilot programme for the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation Policy Innovation unit in Nigeria.
Another feat recorded by the Buhari led government is its Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) which currently feeds a total of 8.2 million pupils in 45,394 public primary schools across 24 states over 80,000 direct jobs have since been created from the School feeding programme, with 87,261 cooks currently engaged in the 24 participating states. All the 36 states of the federation and FCT will eventually benefit from the programme.
The health aspect of the programme has seen over 3 million pupils dewormed in six states, the deworming programme is a bi-annual programme aimed at eradicating and reducing the burden of worms. And also under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), 297,923 families are benefiting from the CCT Scheme.
From the foregoing, President Buhari has wittingly depicted to Nigerians the kind of leader they deserve to genuinely move the nation forward; one that is exceedingly conscientious, committed, resolute, innovative and focused on the task of spearheading the needed changes for sustainable growth and development of Nigeria within a short period. Buhari’s brinkmanship and overwhelming ability in all his endeavors for Nigeria, is as a result of the singular fact of his dexterity, this is the kind of leader Nigerians needs now and beyond.
Written by Mohammed Awwal Ibrahim.
