The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has boasted that no government in the history of Nigeria was able to employ over 200,000 graduates at once.

Osinbajo said the Muhammadu Buhari-led government was able to break the jinx through its empowerment scheme, as N-Power.

The VP made these remarks during a media chat on the last day of his participation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Below was his conversation:

Last week, the Niger Delta Avengers said they would resume attacks within days, has there been any contact with the government and the Avengers?

Vice President: Let me say that we are in constant consultations with all of the groups in the Niger Delta, but more importantly, we are working on all of the issues that we agreed with PANDEF. We are engaged with the groups; we have opened the Maritime University, we are working hard on the Modular Refineries which we hope will be a replacement for some of the illegal refineries and also create opportunities in the Niger Delta. We are in constant consultations, there are many groups in the Niger Delta, including the Niger Delta Avengers, and we are in constant consultations.

You have been in several bilateral meetings. What has been the major highlight(s) for Nigeria to take home?
Vice President: I think the major thing is collaboration, which is really where everybody is at. The world has become a much more interconnected place. There is really little that is being done in Nigeria that doesn’t have some kind of either regional or global impact in the world. A lot of what we are talking about is collaboration; economic collaboration, collaboration against terrorism and all manners of extremist behaviours. That is what I am taking away.

There have been talks about collaborations in the past, have you secured any concrete cooperation in this regard?
Vice President: You don’t sign agreements here; all you can do is what I have said. Talk about what can be done, in what areas we can cooperate, what are the best and easiest ways of working together. You can’t wait to sign conventions; the world is moving far too quickly, the issues are so dynamic.



The US has said it would welcome a weaker dollar, what would be Nigeria’s response to that?
Vice President: We are naturally concerned about currency issues everywhere, but a weaker dollar does not necessarily hurt us (Nigeria). We are concerned most about ensuring our exports are cheaper. Our concern is how to make ourselves competitive with our foreign exchange. So we have to deal with our own currency issues, ensure our currency is stable and adequate to meet with the challenges posed to us at this time. We are more concerned about sorting ourselves out and remaining competitive.



What is government’s position on allowing the Naira to flow freely?
Vice President: The issue for us is in ensuring that the currency is stable. What the NAFEX (Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange) window does is, more or less, to provide an opportunity for the Naira to have its real value against the dollar. In some senses, we are there. What works today is some sort of intervention; you can’t just open up and say, let things go the way they want. You just mentioned that the US would like to see a weaker dollar, so obviously there is intervention somewhere. We want the market to dictate as much as possible, but where we find that there may be complications, we are ready to intervene.

The security situation in Nigeria is a huge concern, isn’t this a deterrent for global investors?
Vice President: Global investors are coming. As a matter of fact, we are doing much better than ever before. If you look at the difference between Q1 of 2017 and now, there is a lift from $908million to $4.1 billion. There is no deterrent. I think that global investors understand that there are security challenges everywhere and that so long as you are able to provide enough grounds for people to believe that, by and large, there is safety. Look at what is going on elsewhere in the world, security is a challenge everywhere. The duty of government is to ensure that security is maintained as robustly as possible.

Sometimes by the very nature of security concerns, if something is happening in the Delta or up North somewhere, it really does provide a challenge for security agencies, but it is an opportunity to beef up security. We are recruiting policemen, we are even trying to build up the army and recruit more people into the army. For instance, if you look at what happened during the clashes in Southern Kaduna, we had to locate a military formation there. We may have to do that in several other places, locating military formations where we find communal violence. Security is dynamic; you have to keep working at it.



Someone mentioned that Nigeria is politically and economically stable, do you agree with that?
Vice President: I think so. The economy is certainly in much more better state than it was 2 years ago and even 4 years ago. Our reserves are at $40 billion, the highest it has been in 4 years. Our capital market is set to be the best performing in the world. We have moved up 24 places in the ease of doing business, agriculture is up by over 3%. We are becoming a net producer of rice, 7 million to 11 million tonnes of paddy which has never happened before. We will be self-sufficient in rice production. Investments are also coming in, so economically; I would say that we are doing very well. The critical thing is that the man on the streets must feel the impact, which sometimes takes a while, because when you are talking about growth, there must be jobs, but growth doesn’t immediately translate to jobs.

What we are trying to do is to establish a system of governance that first of all, emphasises prudence in financial spending, which is what we had in mind to do with the TSA and with the general controls in spending. So we are earning 60% less than what was earned in 2014, but we are spending N1.3 trillion on capital expenditure, the highest in the history of the country, with 60% less revenue.


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don't just know what to call you.

Jj222:
don't just know what to call you.

Just call him akuya

Chaii!! My amiable Pastor and Professor. See what APC have turned you into . It's very unfortunate. People went through a lot to become graduates and are been paid #30/month or #360/p.a., and to this government it is an achievement to boast about? Even some cleaners and drivers in Lagos earn #50k how much more graduates for we to boast about it?
May I also remind the V. P that we have not had such massive job loss in any administration as we have it presently, may be he has forgotten so soon, the data is there with NBS.

clarocuzioo:
Chaii!! My amiable Pastor and Professor. See what APC have turned you into . It's very unfortunate. People went through a lot to become graduates and are been paid #30/month or #360/p.a., and to this government it is an achievement to boast about? Even some cleaners and drivers in Lagos earn #50k how much more graduates for we to boast about it?
May I also remind the V. P that we have not had such massive job loss in any administration as we have it presently, may be he has forgotten so soon, the data is there with NBS.

APC is a shameless party. My company driver (attached to my official vehicle) earns 45k here in Abia. He was actually earning 60k until this government came in and there were adjustments in salary to cushion the effect of recession. He doesn't have a WAEC certificate o.

This statement shows that the Npower 2017 is dead and gone. Nigerian government is nothn to write home abt

They Clearly Said NPower is Not employment but only Volunteers.
And
They are Not paid Salary but Stipends!!!
So why is he misrepresenting Facts...
Lalasticlala

so npower is now a full time employment so npower is now a full time employment ���