-Laolu Akande (SSA Media to Vice President Osinbajo)

On the radio talk show HAVE YOUR SAY, which comes up every Thursday by 10am, the Senior Special Adviser to the President, office of the Vice President, fielded questions from the host as well as contributors to the program from across the country via calls and messages. Some of the salient talking points included:

Q: The Federal Government recently approved 2.3 trillion Naira as stimulus plan for the economy due to the Covid 19 pandemic, how is the economic sustainability committee poised to deliver on this mandate?

The President mandated Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and a couple of other key ministers to come up with a plan to ensure that Nigeria bounces back from the economic lull caused by the pandemic. It is pertinent at this point to start that the finances for this economic sustainability plan has been sourced and now we only need to ensure proper implementation of the program that is now taking off by the various implementation committees led by the key Ministers in different Ministries, Parastatals and Agencies.

One key sector that will be receiving immediate attention is agriculture. Working in tandem with the 36 State Governments as well as the Federal Capital Territory, the economic sustainability plan seeks to inculcate at least 20 new hectares of Farmland in every state to help push the agricultural Revolution this in turn will drastically reduce the rate of unemployment across the country and boost our economy as we would need to import less while exporting more commodities.

The housing sector would also see 300000 houses across the nation within a 1 year span, this houses will be constructed within each State by the occupants of the State. The aim is to employe the indigenes and use materials and products found and located within those States.

The Nigerian people will be informed regularly about this plan. They would also be participants and furthermore, they would help keep an eye out on the level of implementation in their various locals. This stimulus packages has been approved and Nigerians need to simply wait for the information from the government on how they can become part of the process.

Q: MSMEs have been the most badly affected by the Covid 19 pandemic, how has the government sought to address this under the sustainability plan?

Half a million MSME jobs is the immediate target under the MSME survival fund. We are looking at helping MSMEs with a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 50 employees to survive by paying part of their salaries via the 50 billion MSME payroll support for MSME survival fund.

Another 200 billion interest-free loans will go to artisans to enable them stay in business. 15 billion off take fund is also earmarked to help 100000 MSMEs that the government would be the primary consumers of their products. This is to enable the Nigerian people to become more productive. We employ the people to be the watchdogs and accountability managers in their respective locations to ensure that all these is properly implemented.

Q: the issue of the embattled acting chairman of EFCC, Magu and subsequent allegations on the Vice President, Professor Osinbajo, what have you to say about this?

My official statement on the matter is already out with the populace and I wouldn't be speaking anymore in the matter.

Let me point out though that the job to which the Presidency have been elected to do, is more paramount than the little skirmishes that tend to crop up every now and then in the political environment.

The President and Vice President have the commitment to ensure that the average Nigerian on the street continually has an improvement in their living conditions and they are dedicated to achieving this before the end of their tenure rather than paying attention to rumour mongering.

Q: What is the current security situation in the country?

The Presidency regularly meets with Security Chiefs on a weekly basis and gets information of operations going on around the country as well as the welfare of the personnel sacrificing their lives for the security of the Nation.

Everyone would agree that while we still have random ambush attacks, the situation is a far better cry than what the President met upon assuming office in 2015.

There were at least 15 local governments across two states under the control of the Boko Haram insurgents. Nowadays, their stronghold of Sambisa Forest has been decimated, leveled and the organisation reduced to a band of misfits carrying out guerrilla tactic attacks but every week we hear records of the Nigerian security forces pegging them back and protecting the lives of innocent citizens.

Q: Would the 2.3T naira stimulus package of the Economic Sustainability Plan be released wholesome and has any been disbursed, if yes, how much?

The various schemes will be handled by the various Ministries and Agencies that they fall under, for example, the solar power electrification scheme will be handled by the Rural Electrification Agency and Niger Delta Power Holding Company as well as the Ministry of Power, who will all come together to form an implementation committee.

As the implementation committees reach certain milestones, funds will then be released to them. So to answer your question, the monies will not be released wholesome.

The survival fund will be disbursed via the Bank of Industry as well as the Ministry of Commerce.
It is cogent to reiterate that the survival fund for the MSMEs has already been discussed as part of the 500 billion stimulus package released early during the Covid 19 lockdown. The rest will be released through the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Ministry of Finance.

Let me make this final plea in conclusion, to inform Nigerians that we will make sure to communicate with the people, to keep them informed and in return, we expect feedback as Nigerians need to be the caretakers of the various projects in their locations. Thank you.

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This interview is well loaded with information that await Nigerians for grab especially in the areas of agriculture and MSMEs. The Osinbajo's Master ESC plan will indeed create opportunities for the nation and of course Nigerians as individuals

Its no news that Jackson Ude is well known for his lies and ability to spread falsehood through his site pointblank news.

The ESC plan is a very good one and we want it supervised properly in order to serve the main purpose of helping Nigerians due to the effect of the pandemic and to also boimce the economy back to a solid stand.

The Osinbajo's with the ESC plan will be indeed great opportunities for the nation and of course Nigerians

One thing that got my attention the most is "the 20 new hectares of farmlands in every state for Agricultural revolution". This will tackle unemployment to a reasonable level and boast our economy (if six state uses 20hectares of land each to farm Rice ! How many tons of rice will that be?

This ESC has impacted so much life