Q: ERGP and 2018 Budget?

Vice President: First, it is reflected in the budget. As a matter of fact it is the basis of the budget. The plan is the basis of the 2017 budget and the 2018 budget. As a matter of fact, it would be the basis for our budgets from 2017 to 2019. The plan itself is meant to go on to 2020. So, now every aspect of it is reflected in the plan. Our focus is on agriculture; our focus is on power, infrastructure, especially railways, roads, and all of that, and ensuring that we send more than ever before on capital. For instance, we spent about N1.3 trillion on capital, which is the largest ever spent on capital in this country, and we intend to increase the capital spent year on year. That’s part of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. Part of it is also is the power sector reform where we are hoping that we’ll be able to do both off grid and on grid power and improve power supply, because that obviously is one of the most basic needs for the infrastructure take-off and for the take-off of several sectors. So, the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan is really the basis of the budget, and we expect to see results going forward.

Q: Overall, do you think Nigeria has truly, and I want you to answer this from your heart, not as a politician, do you think Nigeria has actually learnt its lessons from the oil prices?

Vice President: Well, I think a lot has to do first with discipline and the way that government approaches its business. I think that we have shown that we can be disciplined and we’ve shown even in the execution of our plan that we are disciplined about it and that we are serious about it.
I think also the fact that this particular oil shock led to a recession and to grave economic consequences is a lesson that would be much more difficult to forget than in the past. I think also is the resurgence of the non-oil sector is several ways is also evident of the fact that we are not going to, we can’t go back the same way.
And there is also evidence all over the world that oil is gradually losing relevance. So we are not going to have much of a choice, if you see what I mean. In the next 10, 15 years or so, it is going to be extremely difficult to live on oil for any oil producing country.
Look at China, Japan, everybody is investing in electric cars. Japan has more charging stations for cars than petrol stations. China is subsidising electric cars. The UK, several European countries are setting deadlines for more energy-efficient cars, electric cars and those kinds of things. So, we really won’t have a choice, I don’t think that we are going to have the luxury of sliding back into some comfort that comes from just hydrocarbon resources. I don’t think we are going to have that luxury and I think it’s going to become evident in the next few years.

Q: But given that we’ve been through a recession, you are right in the sense that it is going to be very difficult to forget what we have experienced in this country. But I think a lot of Nigerians actually need to change their habits, especially when it comes to relying on imports.

Vice President: I think the way it works is that at the end of the day, it is an economic choice, a choice that you have to make. If imports are more expensive, as they are now, you are going to have to make a choice to buy local. I mean, government has a policy. As I said, we have an Executive Order which was issued, which insists that government itself must purchase locally, must give priority to local content goods, must give priority to goods that have local content in all our purchases, including military purchases.
So as a matter of policy, we are where we should be and we should see some results for that. But the other choices that have to be made are economic choices. If people see that imports are more expensive, they are more likely to look for local options, and already that is becoming the case. Local options are definitely becoming more popular.

Q: Would that still be the case when we are out of recession?

Vice President: I think so. I think we are going to have a situation where, because if you look at what we are seeing, I’ve seen that manufacturing in Nigeria, if you look at what we are seeing, I am seeing that food, beverages etc., is really ramping up, packaging is much better, quality is much better, even clothing, shoes, quality is much better. Things are improving. Many people are buying clothes that are made in Nigeria. More people are wearing Made-in-Nigeria clothing. Textiles are still manufactured, most of it is imported, but there is a value add because people are actually buying made in Nigeria clothing.
I think that we are in a place where that is going to become more popular as efficiency improve local industries. It is going to become, as I said, an economic choice, and I think that Nigerians are filling the gap, filling all of the spaces that are being created by more expensive imports.
And I think that we will find that Made-in-Nigeria becomes a reality. But it is not the sort of thing that you can enforce beyond controlling imports and those kinds of things. I think it will come down at the end of the day to how efficient and how the quality of local products become. I think that we are already seeing that. I think that in the next few years, you are going to see change in terms of patronage of Made-in-Nigeria products. I think that we are going to see a real change.

Q: Since your administration took office, how organized are the typical average entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

Vice President: Let me say that first, opportunities have arisen. What has happened for example is that imports are more expensive, so there are more opportunities for local production. I just gave you an example of agriculture. There are more opportunities in agriculture, more opportunities in agro-processing; more opportunities even in technology products for young people.
Now, that does not mean that you will find an immediate efficiency or immediate prosperity but the opportunities are there.

I think that what we have found and what someone would say to you that a recession or crisis really may sound bad but it really brings about significant opportunities and significant challenges, so what we are trying to do is to improve the business, improve the environment for doing business so that those opportunities become realities, so that they actually become something in the hands of young people and entrepreneurs who are taking those opportunities, and who are trying to profit from those opportunities. I think that the opportunities in recession are enormous and especially for local production, for local activity and we are seeing a lot of that taking place.

Q: I know you signed Executive Orders to try and cut down on red tape and bureaucracies to make it easier for businesses to start up in Nigeria right now. How do you monitor the implementation to make sure it has the desired effect especially for Executive Orders that have 30-day deadline?

Vice President: What we have tried to do is really engaging with the public service. For the first time, I met with permanent secretaries, met with staff; we held open meetings where we talked about the problems and what we need to do. But now we have broken that down to permanent secretaries meeting with their immediate staff and we are breaking that down further.

We are looking at how we can maintain that communication because that is the only way to continuously check what is going on, and we are also doing a lot of training, we are trying to get people to understand that this is really the way to go. Not just because it is good practice but because it is also the way to sustain the resources that pay for the public service, and the resources that will get this nation going forward.
I think that there is a need to change the orientation which is what we are doing through training and engaging and then monitoring, and we have also set clear deadlines, we have said, if you don’t perform, these are the consequences. So, I think that we will get efficiency as we go on, the important thing is to keep our eyes on the ball and we are doing so.

Q: How much do you think Nigeria’s reputation for weakness when it comes to the rule of law; the way the rule of law specifically has hampered foreign direct investment?

Vice President: Let me say first that there are many factors that an investor will always be looking at, rule of law being one but not all of it. And what you find is that private sector is usually factoring all of this into its costing, into just making the decisions.
Many times you find that, and this is what we are saying, you would find that investors are coming and they are investing in various sectors of the economy and some are increasing investments and all of that.

But there is a significant drawback if people feel that disputes cannot be resolved quickly and efficiently. That is a significant drawback. There are many who are squeamish about those kinds of things and who will not invest on account of the fact that there are fearful that it may well be that if there is a dispute, it may not be resolved on time and that is just a fact of life. And that is one of the reasons why we are trying to improve the delivery and administration of justice and we really can’t avoid that, it is so fundamental.

And for me it is the sort of commitment that we can’t take lightly. Whether it is for investment or just doing justice for the ordinary citizen, or the person who just wants a simple matter resolved, it is really our duty to ensure that we provide a system of justice that delivers on that, and so working on it on a day by day basis is always the task for us.

Q: So what changes have your administration made to make sure that the rule of law is no longer as much of a problem for foreign investors?

Vice President: Well, that is the point that I was making earlier, that it depends, and there are three arms of government that have to work together and it is difficult especially because there have been a bit of rocks over the years.
One of the things we tried to do is to ensure that we interact with the judiciary in order to bring about a system that works. For example with respect to special offences and all that, we are trying to designate courts; we are speaking with the Chief Justice to designate special courts that will be able to deal with these issues. We are also talking about more efficiency in commercial law and these are interactions that are going on with the judiciary.

So, I think that what we need to do is to engage the judiciary sufficiently, let the judiciary understand the importance of what they do to the economy. Sometimes that isn’t necessarily always well appreciated, and I think that that is a point we need to make.
And it really comes down to government working as efficiently as they can with the judiciary, again government, by that I mean the executive, cannot by any kind of fear get the administration of justice working efficiently. We simply have to collaborate and cooperate with the judiciary and of course with the legislature as well.
In a democracy, these are not necessarily straightforward, not necessarily easy, and people don’t necessarily work or sing from the same song book all the time. This is an engagement that is important and I think that we have taken the first step by actually sitting down with the judiciary to raise those issues at the highest levels and to see what it is that we need to do to get things going forward

Q: Where will this be in 2019?

Vice President: Let me just say that our commitment is to leave this country with all of the resources that we can bring to the table. To live it honestly, with transparency and efficiently, in every aspect. In other words, the economy, security, fight against corruption which are the three main issues we think are on the table.

We want to see an improved power infrastructure, especially power and transportation, we are working hard on that, and we want to be able to deliver on aspects of our rail system; we want to improve power supply by the end of our administration. We are definitely going to be self-sufficient in rice production by the end of this administration and several other agricultural produce.
We think that in several areas of the economy, manufacturing we expect that it is going to improve; we are going to significantly improve the business environment and the ease of doing business. I think that there are so many areas where there is going to greater efficiency and delivery.
But I think the most important thing is that we are committed to running a government that is transparent, a government that is efficient, a government that serves the people, and that responds to the concerns and problems of the Nigerian people. That I think is all that I can say.

Q: I understand that you can’t any promises because obviously you can’t see the future, but a lot of Nigerians have had promises before under many administrations for many years and they really want to see results. Can you make any assurances beyond just “we would like” and “we want to”?

Vice President: All I can say to you now is that these are the projections that we have made, and I have spoken about the concrete things and I have spoken about agriculture, what you are going to see in agriculture; we have started our rail, we are doing the Lagos-Kano rail; the contract is already out, the concession for the Lagos-Kano to the narrow gauge, General Electric has already taken that. We are going to be moving over a million tons of goods on that rail by October; we are doing the standard gauge for Lagos, we are doing Lagos-Calabar which is also a standard gauge rail.

We are going to come out more efficiently in mining. Mining productivity has improved significantly today. In fact, that is one of the sectors aside from agriculture that is also making significant improvement. We are opening up technology. Many young people are getting involved in technology and all of that.

So, people will see more improvement in technology, power, we are working day and day on power. We expect that we are going to see much greater improvement on power because we are using both off-grid and on-grid initiatives now.
Of course we are involving the private sector a great deal. The private sector is already investing considerably more, and we are want to open up the power sector for more private sector investment. And then there are many more private sector opportunities that are game changing. For example the oil refinery that is being built in Lagos, 650,000 barrels a day. It is the largest single-line refinery in the world. That will be opened early in 2019. The fertilizer plants are two; Indorama and the one Dangote is opening which is also the largest single line fertilizer plant in the world.
So, the future is certainly very bright and I think we are going to do great things.


Released by Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
August 22, 2017