Buhari rolls out change economic agenda

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has rolled out his Change Economic Agenda, with a pledge to revive the nation’s moribund textile industries in a couple of months in order to boost job creation and tackle unemployment.
Buhari also said his administration was targeting generation of 5,000 megawatts of power by the first quarter of 2016 to create platform for industrialisation of the country.

Buhari spoke through the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, during the commemoration of this year’s Diaspora Day and Conference.
He noted that since its inception in July 2005, the National Diaspora Day has become the platform for engaging with Nigeria citizens in Diaspora.  
Presenting what he termed as the medium to long term Change Economic Agenda on the occasion, Buhari said Nigerian citizens abroad have a great role to play in the change agenda of his administration as he has embarked on building a new Nigeria and all hands were needed to be on deck to succeed.
The President said the time has come for talents at home and abroad to mix up with a patriotic zeal to fashion the Nigeria our dreams.
On the power sector, Buhari said: “We are aiming to consistently generate 4000 mega watts of power to 5000 in the first quarter of next year. This will involve ensuring that all power related projects are speedily completed.
“The 5,000 megawatts of power is a modest improvement at the moment, but we believe that without removing the various obstacles, especially in ensuring investment in the power sector and also completing variety of our projects that have been outstanding for several years, we may not be able to build the foundation for moving quickly from 5,000 megawatts to 10,000 and 15,000 as we go along,” he said.
He added that his government is pursuing an overdue reform in a short medium term by reorganising the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and holding its leadership accountable for revenue shortfalls in the last years.  
The Federal Government had recently carried out a major shake-up in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) appointing Ibe Kachikwu as Group Managing Director of the corporation.
Buhari said the Federal Government would improve the local refining capacity and that this would reduce over 37 per cent of foreign exchange currently applied to the importation of refined petroleum products.
On agriculture, President Buhari said his government would pursue self-sustenance production of items such as rice, wheat, cotton, and therefore, considerably reduce foreign exchange requirement for importation of those items.
He disclosed that rice importation alone consumes over $4 billion a year, adding that seven rice producing states are currently working with the Federal Government to map out pathways to self-sustenance rice production within the next 30 months.
He added that agriculture and agro-allied value chain were also important in the job creation plans of the Federal Government, saying the government would support and protect local agriculture.
Buhari said: “Generally, we intend to create a friendly and efficient business environment, insisting on removing needless bureaucracy and red-tape in pre-establishment and approval processes.”
He said his administration would take a bottom-up approach in economic planning, saying “this approach takes into account the number of those of us who have no means of survival rather than a top-down approach that emphasises that all is well,” adding that Nigerians in diaspora have critical role to play in achieving the desired new Nigeria.”  
“Equally addressing the dire unemployment situation is central in our socio-economic agenda, especially youth employment which is the major priority of government. We expect that investment infrastructure development, technology, agriculture, technology and mining will in the medium to long term absorb many of the qualified unemployed.”
He added that one meal to primary schools would create several jobs and business an opportunities, saying the Federal Government is committed to robust policy of funding and capacity building for the Small Scale Business Enterprises (SME), training and engagement of national volunteers, vocational training for post-secondary students and equipping with skills to be self-reliant.
He added that some short term measures were recently taken to stabilise the naira but these measures were not expected to be permanent.
Buhari, said, his administration intends to keep inflation within the single to double digit margin and keep interest rate at current levels and disclosed that social policy was the corner stone of the Change Economic Agenda of his administration, saying working with the World Bank and other partners, the Federal Government would implement conditional cash transfer programme.
He said: “We believe that giving cash on the monthly basis to the poorest families on the condition that they enrol their children in schools, and participate in immunisation, is a right step in taking millions out of poverty.
“The amount of money to be given to women in local communities will be an injection into the local economy also. Other social interventions are critical for ensuring that the 110 million extremely poor Nigerians are given a chance to participate in this great new Nigeria.
“One of the things we need to emphasise is the fact that no matter how long it takes, we must come to the realisation that this country belongs to the majority of its people, the majority of Nigerian people are poor at this moment, the majority of the Nigerian people do not have the means to survive and it is the duty of government and all of us to ensure that we take that into account in planning and the various thing we intend to do.
He urged the Diaspora community to liase with Nigerian embassies in their country of residents in setting up a reliable database of Nigerian citizens abroad, noting that such would create a platform for regular interaction.