₦airaland Forum

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT

PRESS RELEASE

TECHNOLOGY: NIGERIA & NIGERIANS WILL SURPRISE THE WORLD, SAYS OSINBAJO

*VP woos potential investors in power, agriculture, other sectors

*Received at the UN, meets Pence Wednesday in White House

The potential, effort and impact being made by Nigerians in technology can enable the country roll out indigenous technology solutions that can transform the global space according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo stated this Monday while interacting with interested investors and foreign policy experts on Nigeria’s economic prospects and related matters at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.

In a question and answer session after his opening remarks at the event, Prof Osinbajo was asked about the ongoing international dispute regarding some global technology firms and the issue of 5G.

He explained that even though Nigeria is yet to roll out 5G, "we do not have those complications (comparatively) in taking decisions in that regard. But, we practically welcome every company that wants to do business with us in Nigeria. Huawei is in Nigeria and so are all the other technology companies.

“We haven’t gone through any kind of decision making for rolling out the 5G technology; as a matter of fact we are going to roll out 5G ourselves. Talking about the equipment and technology; how did the Chinese get it? How did anyone else get the technology? We will do it ourselves.”

Speaking further, the Vice President who was optimistic about the possibility to developing homegrown capacity in the technology space said government would leverage the efforts and resourcefulness of youths to actualize its potentials in the sector.

“Our potential in technology and entertainment has been attracting huge attention. First is the market, at 174 million GSM phones, we are among the top ten telephone users in the world, and we have the highest percentage of people who use internet on their phones in the world," Prof Osinbajo added.

Continuing he said "we are also number two in mobile internet banking in the world, and 17 million Nigerians are on Facebook. Microsoft has announced that it will establish a 100 million dollar African Development Centre in Nigeria.

“Second is the ever-growing number of technology startups, young digital entrepreneurs who are creating solutions to value chain and logistics challenges and creating thousands of jobs in the process. Andela, a software company training software developers for many Fortune 500 companies received a $24m dollar investment from Facebook.”

In the other sectors of the economy, the Vice President told the American audience that Nigeria remained the best place to invest given its market and enterprising population.

He said “now, we are opening up our power sector. We are asking power firms to come in and invest in end to end power supply. Power Africa - a USAID project has made a commitment of $110m over five years (2018 – 2023) to provide transaction support to the entire value-chain covering gas supply, distribution, transmission and generation activities with our population, and a market-driven power sector, so the next few years promise exciting prospects.

“This is also the case with other infrastructure. We are embarking on the largest investment in infrastructure in our history, welcoming private investments in concessions and projects rail, roads, airports, and other infrastructure.”

On agriculture, Prof. Osinbajo said “Nigeria has the 9th largest stock of arable land in the world. We have become world leaders in cassava, yams, sorghum, and millet, and we are on the threshold of self-sufficiency in paddy rice production.

“Seeing greater interest in agriculture and the agro-allied value chain, there is no question that aside from the export market, our population presents a massive and lucrative local market.”

Speaking specifically about what government was doing to revive manufacturing in the country, the Vice President said the Federal Government’s Project Made In Nigeria for Export, titled Project MINE was conceived to drive the country's industrialization agenda.

According to him, “we are investing at the moment in the creation of special economic zones. Our Project MINE is designed to attract sunset industries from more advanced manufacturing economies, in search of affordable well-trained labor in Nigeria.

“At the moment we are focusing on industries for local manufacture of goods for which Nigeria has a comparative advantage. These include cotton, garments, leather, and light industrial manufacturing.”

Speaking further on efforts to improve domestic manufacturing, the Vice President said “the Nigerian Special Economic Zones Investment company is a public-private partnership established as the delivery vehicle for the project.

“Investors for the project include AFDB, Afroexim Bank, and AFC. Already work has begun in three locations. The Enyimba Economic City in Aba, Abia State, covers over 9500 hectares. Three international anchor tenants have been secured for phase one of the project. The city will be served by an existing IPP for power and will create 625,000 jobs when it is fully built.

“There is also the Lekki Model Industrial Park in partnership with the Lagos State Government in Lagos. It is set on 1000 hectares in the northeast cluster of Lekki Free Zone. It has already attracted world-class anchor tenants for textiles and garments, agro-processing and light industrial manufacturing including the number 1 Chinese and number 9 global textiles and garment group, (RUYI Group).

“The third project in its early stages is the Funtua Cotton Cluster in Katsina State which is in North West Nigeria. Funtua has the largest aggregation of cotton ginneries in Nigeria. The cluster will aggregate cotton from 800,000 farmers in Northern Nigeria and become the largest integrated cotton ginning, spinning and weaving complex in Sub Saharan Africa,” the Vice President noted.

In renewable energy, Prof. Osinbajo said “huge prospects also exist in investments in renewable energy, energy-efficient-processes and clean technology.”

According to him “gas had been flared for almost 60 years by major oil companies but in 2017 government approved the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, designed to eliminate gas flaring through technically and commercially sustainable gas utilization projects. The Programme offers flared gas for sale through a transparent and competitive bidding process.”

After his interaction at the CFR, the Vice President was received at the United Nations by a team of top officials of the world body led by Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed at the UN headquarters.

Prof. Osinbajo and the UN officials discussed ways Nigeria and the UN can further collaborate on national, regional and global issues.

The Vice President would be meeting his American counterpart tomorrow Wednesday at the White House before heading back to Abuja.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity
Office of the Vice President
25 June 2019
Copyright ©️ 2019, Office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, All rights reserved.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in New York said the huge development challenges facing Nigeria and the rest of Africa were “excellent opportunities for groundbreaking investments and innovation”.
He stated this as a guest at an interactive session hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a think-tank.
In his opening statement on the topic “Nigeria’s Economic Prospects”, the vice president hinged his discussion on four areas including population, and environment with respect to climate change.

He identified the other two areas as production especially agriculture, manufacturing and technology as well as security, and the challenges of terrorism, violent Islamic extremism, social exclusion and resource conflicts.
Osinbajo noted that what happened in the four areas in the continent in the coming years would impact positively or negatively on the fortunes of the world.

He said, “The doomsday scenario is as follows: Africa’s population grows exponentially, food production is not able to match population growth, a rise in transhuman conflicts due to shrinking vegetation and water.
“Lack of jobs and opportunity for a large  poorly educated youth population, leading to aggressive illegal migration, vulnerability to extremism and, the creation of a convenient breeding ground for extremist groups and a terrorist  launch pad to the rest of the world.


“A horrifying situation indeed, and possible if in the next three decades Africa drops the ball on these four indicators.
“Neither Africa nor the rest of the world can afford to have these scenarios playing out.”
Osinbajo stated that being the most populous nation in the continent, Nigeria had a critical role to play in those four areas.
According to him, it is not an exaggeration to say that as “Nigeria goes, so goes Africa”.
The vice president said although the challenges were huge, they were excellent opportunities for “ground-breaking” investments and innovation by both local and foreign players.

“So take population,  the mere fact that we will become the third  most populous nation in the world by 2050 and the 14th largest economy, means a huge market.
“When we opened up our telecoms sector for private investment 18 years ago, many thought, ‘yes, they have a large population but not a large enough middle class to buy and use mobile phones’.
“They were wrong. MTN and Econet took the plunge, and today market penetration for mobile phones is 114.9 per cent, which technically means almost everybody has a phone,” he said.
The vice president said Nigeria was trying to replicate the same feat in the power sector by opening it for investment in end-to-end power supply.
According to him, Power Africa, a USAID project, has made a commitment of 110 million dollars between 2018 and 2023.
The fund is meant to provide transaction support to the entire electricity value-chain covering gas supply, distribution, transmission and generation activities, he explained.
“With our population, and a market-driven power sector, the next few years promise exciting prospects.
“This is also the case with other infrastructure. We are embarking on the largest investment in infrastructure in our history, welcoming private investments in  concessions and projects like rail, roads, airports, and other infrastructure.”
In agriculture, Nigeria boasts of the ninth largest stock of arable land in the world, and has become a world leader in cassava,  yam, sorghum, and millet production, he said.
He added that the country was on the verge of self sufficiency in paddy rice production, seeing greater interest  in agriculture and the agro-allied value chain.
Osinbajo emphasised that besides the export market, the country’s population presents a massive and lucrative domestic market.
“Carlos a major Mexican vegetable farmer came to Nigeria to do vegetables for export and found he was making far more money servicing the domestic market,” he said.
According to him, challenges in other areas such as manufacturing, environment, climate change and security were investment opportunities waiting to be explored.

THE VICE PRESIDENT NEVER MADE ANY DEROGATORY COMMENTS AGAINST IPOB AND THE FULANI HERDSMEN CLASHES; BEWARE OF FAKE NEWS!

The Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo never condemned IPOB in a divisive and controversial manner nor supported any act of the Fulani Herdsmen attacks on innocent citizens, which some mischief makers fabricated in a statement on the social media.

The Vice President has always been a peace maker and lover of all Nigerians.
The malicious statement was only aimed at damning his reputation and love for the Igbos and Fulanis.

Nigeria is a great country and no one should ever support any form of divide by spreading fake news in a bid to stair hatred and violence.

Arrests were made as early as 8am today. I was at Kawo, the scene of the unfortunate incident today. Bus drivers, conductors, passerby, traders around the scene were arrested by armed police officers.

More pix

Extraordinary FEC session now in progress.

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more pix

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, attends the 23rd Convocation Ceremony of the Lagos State University, LASU, today in Lagos. He also commissioned the University’s new Senate Building.

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT - PRESS RELEASE

FG'S ANTI CORRUPTION PROGRESS REPORT BY VP OSINBAJO

*Recounts FG’s efforts in tackling grand corruption

*Adds: Next Level is to create environment for closer collaboration among government agencies, civil society & other stakeholders


“And since 2015 much has been done in this battle against corruption. But we are not even slightly deluded into thinking that we have won the battle, certainly not. We are still very far away but we must admit that we are much closer to finding solutions than when we began.

“Our policy was to tackle grand corruption first. By this i mean the stealing of huge public resources directly from the treasury, usually at the behest of the highest levels of executive authority. And the stealing of budgeted funds through various schemes.

“How did we go about this - the enforcement of TSA, the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit, and even ensuring that most civil servants are on the IPPIS electronic platform (which simply is our way of ensuring that there are no ghost workers by putting all public officials including those in the Armed Forces and the police on the electronic payment platform) and this has greatly reduced ghost workers and ensured that all of our human resources are accounted for electronically.

“The judiciary also moved a little in recent times. The Supreme Court in a lead judgment of Akaahs JSC, recently held that forfeiture under Section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act is a civil matter. So, it neither requires the criminal conviction of the property owner nor his innocence. This opens the door for forfeiture of assets that the purported owner cannot explain, whether or not there is an allegation of corruption.”

Below is the full text of the Vice President’s speech:

SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, VICE PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE SUMMIT ON CORRUPTION ORGANISED BY THE PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE AGAINST CORRUPTION (PACAC) ON TUESDAY MAY 14, 2019 AT THE TRANSCORP HILTON HOTEL, ABUJA.

PROTOCOLS


The Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) certainly deserves our commendation, not just for their sterling, innovative contributions to the fight against corruption but for regularly setting the agenda for important conversations on the subject. This meeting, called to discuss "A collaborative approach to eradicating the evils of Corruption" is notably one of such.

For years, corruption has been by far, Nigeria’s most devastating problem. A recent PRICEWATERHOUSE COOPERS (PwC) study titled the Impact of Corruption on the Nigerian Economy made the following general findings and conclusions on the effects of corruption.

1. Corruption has a dynamic impact, which is felt more by poorer households and smaller companies.


2. Countries with higher corruption are associated with lower tax revenues and lower expenditures as a percentage of GDP in the most important indicators of human development namely; health and education.


3. Corruption is associated with erosion of talent in public institutions and therefore, government's effectiveness is eroded.


4. Corruption usually needs the creation of unnecessary bureaucracy, to enable further opportunities for bribes. This means that enforcement of contracts and property rights are hindered and weakened by corruption.


5. Corruption is associated with lower investment; and higher prices and barriers to entry for businesses.



6. Corruption is associated with lower average standard of living, education levels and greater inequality in society.


7. Nigeria’s 2030 GDP can be up by at least USD 534bn if we reduce corruption. And they said that if we reduce corruption by about 20%, we can actually have higher GDP. So, it really doesn’t matter how much revenue a country makes or how transformative its plans are. If it allows corruption to thrive; if it ensures that the majority of the people do not benefit from all of the revenues or all that the country is able to produce; or simply truncates the plans of the nation. Which is why despite the highest oil revenues in our history (the period between 2010 and 2014) debt doubled and poverty figures rose.

It is for these reasons that President Muhammadu Buhari famously warned that if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us. Which is why a major pillar of our government’s socio-economic agenda is the fight against corruption. And which is why perhaps one of first bodies to be set up in 2015 by the President was PACAC.

And since 2015 much has been done in this battle against corruption. But we are not even slightly deluded into thinking that we have won the battle, certainly not. We are still very far away but we must admit that we are much closer to finding solutions than when we began.

Our policy was to tackle grand corruption first. By this i mean the stealing of huge public resources directly from the treasury, usually at the behest of the highest levels of executive authority. And the stealing of budgeted funds through various schemes.

How did we go about this - the enforcement of TSA, the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit, and even ensuring that most civil servants are on the IPPIS electronic platform (which simply is our way of ensuring that there are no ghost workers by putting all public officials including those in the Armed Forces and the police on the electronic payment platform) and this has greatly reduced ghost workers and ensured that all of our human resources are accounted for electronically.

The judiciary also moved a little in recent times. The Supreme Court in a lead judgment of Akaahs JSC, recently held that forfeiture under Section 17 of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act is a civil matter. So, it neither requires the criminal conviction of the property owner nor his innocence. This opens the door for forfeiture of assets that the purported owner cannot explain, whether or not there is an allegation of corruption.

We are now poised to deal with the wider problem of systemic corruption, especially where the average person interacts with government. It is that level of corruption that affects our people the most – where the average person is doing some business or is seeking some favour or some discretion from government. Corruption for example in the issuance of contracts, licenses and other government approvals. There is no reason why any Nigerian should have to pay bribes to law enforcement agents for obtaining drivers licenses or passports, or to clear goods at our ports.

All of the relevant government agencies have shown a serious commitment to eradicating these forms of corruption, our next level is to create the environment for collaboration between our agencies, civil society and other stakeholders.

But the most enduring solutions to ending corruption are those that take into account the fact the most potent weapon that corruption has, is its acceptance as the norm in any society. A situation where even the natural custodians of societal morality and values acquiesce in it, a situation where, in particular, religious pulpits, are silent about it.

An enemy configured in such complexity cannot be defeated by solely a law and order approach. It requires whole new national and individual re- orientation, a focus on attitudinal change. It must involve the collaboration of government, civil society especially the leadership of faith communities, school teachers and professional and other interest groups. This is why this meeting’s objectives are of great importance.

Finally, let me again congratulate PACAC on their landmark achievements in the past four years. Establishing PACAC was the first major action President Buhari took in the anti-corruption fight.

Since then, under the courageous and uncompromising leadership of one of the enduring sages in the legal profession and civil society, Professor Itse Sagay, PACAC has moved from strength to strength. Professor Sagay’s interventions on various critical issues of governance, the rule of law and corruption have definitively pointed opinion in the morally and legally just direction.

We must also congratulate PACAC on the recent Senate confirmation of your former Executive Secretary Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye as Chairman of the ICPC.

Our struggle against corruption is one for the soul and substance of our Nation. The battle must be a collective one, corruption fights back with venom, guile and force, it is relentless and unashamed we who fight it must meet it with greater resolve and force. We can only win by working together with a common vision.

While thanking you for listening it is now my pleasure and privilege to formally declare this meeting open.


Released by

Laolu Akande

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President

Since assuming office in 2015 as Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler has elevated the Service to a level higher than his predecessors in terms of performance, writes Assistant Editor Nduka Chiejina.

Babatunde Fowler was appointed Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to replicate what he did in growing the tax net in Lagos at the federal level.
Since he assumed office, Fowler has introduced innovative tax ideas designed to make non-oil revenue a veritable alternative revenue source that will challenge revenue from oil as a major revenue source to the nation’s purse.
Appointed in 2015 to head the FIRS, Fowler has transformed the operations and elevated the performance of the FIRS with a series of proactive initiatives that have resulted in a robust tax administration.
These initiatives include automation/ICT deployment for the Service’s processes, tax education for members of the public and sustained growth of total tax revenue collected, and ICT deployment for transparent and easy collection of taxes.
The automation of all tax processes has given birth to e-Solutions, for transparent, convenient and faster tax administration. Under the e-Solutions, the initiative is the e-Receipt system which is generated once payment is received from a taxpayer with a notification sent to his/her e-mail or phone number instructing the taxpayer to download their receipts and print them out for the record.
Still, under the e-Solutions initiative, taxpayers can access their Tax Clearance Certificate by applying for the certificate online and same is received online immediately. The FIRS has continued to build on other aspects of the e-payment channels, to make it easy to pay taxes anywhere in the world, real time-all time (24/7) and also download receipts any time and from wherever a taxpayer wants desires.
Another feather to Fowler’s cap is his handling of the Value Added Tax (VAT) component of the Tax system and administration. The FIRS’ automation programme has reflected positively on VAT collection occasioned by the information exchange with third-party databases and other government agencies.
Under Fowler, the auto VAT Collection has shown a 31% VAT increase over the N25billion collected in 2017 through the new scheme. In terms of the automated deductions at source and remittance of VAT and Withholding Tax from state governments, the FIRS was able to collect N13 billion. During the year, the use of ICT and automation has facilitated the growth of taxpayers who have used these facilities from 9,574 to 59,350.
In administering stamp duties remittances, the FIRS imported a hundred new Stamp Duty machines to be placed in every state of the federation. The electronic Stamp Duty process has grown the Stamp Duty revenue and made it more convenient for taxpayers. In 2016, the FIRS collected N5.6 billion; in 2017, N10.9 billion and in 2018, N15.66 billion.
The Service made it more convenient, with the use of technology, for taxpayers to choose where their tax files reside. Now, as a taxpayer, you can choose the tax location. If a taxpayer is in Kano, for example, and for whatever reason, he/she wants the tax file to reside in Lagos, it is allowed. The FIRS has also deployed systems to all its stations. Taxpayers, unsure of how the systems work are shown how to use it to make their payments or file their returns.
Under the tax education/enlightenment and robust enforcement initiative, the FIRS under Fowler has the Federal Engagement and Enlightenment Tax Teams (FEETT) directorate, which continuously interacts with taxpayers to help them file and register as taxpayers, provide answers to any questions they may have in terms of ease of payment of tax.
With regards to greater revenue generation, Fowler has marshalled the FIRS to consistently grow tax revenue under his watch. In 2018, the FIRS collected a total of N5.32 trillion, considered to be the largest ever collected by the Service. In 2017, the FIRS collected N4.02 trillion and in 2016, N3.3 trillion.
Despite these impressive tax revenue collection efforts, the FIRS which collects 4% as the cost of collection only from non-oil revenue has progressively recorded a gradual slide in its cost of collection. In 2016, it was 2.6 per cent; 2017, 2.49 per cent and 2018, 2.14 per cent, the reason for the downward slide in the amount that goes to the FIRS as cost of collection is the deployment of technology which has resulted in a more efficient tax collection process.
Since 2015, the focus has been on non-oil revenue. Non-oil revenue from tax collection in 2016 was N2.149 trillion; in 2017, N2.5 trillion and in 2018, N2.852 trillion. In percentage terms, 2016, non-oil tax revenue accounted for 65 per cent; 2017, 62.25 per cent and 2018, 53.62 per cent. What this means is that non-oil tax revenue has been growing in absolute terms. Non-oil tax revenue has performed well in excess of oil tax revenue, suggesting that the effect of the diversification of the Nigerian economy by the Federal Government has gained traction.
In the area of VAT performance, in 2018, the FIRS crossed the N1 trillion mark. Prior to that, in 2016, the FIRS collected N828 billion as VAT; in 2017, N972 billion and in 2018, N1.1 trillion. 85% of VAT is distributed to state governments and local governments every month.
Another approach employed by the government but anchored by the FIRS to make taxpayers comply with the civic duty of paying tax without the use of force and to make tax payment as painless as possible, the government with the Ministry of Finance launched the VAIDS (Voluntary Assets Income Declaration Scheme) programme.
In 2016, the FIRS on its own gave a tax amnesty, which saw N92.6 billion was declared as unpaid taxes. In 2017, the VAIDS programme was also launched. Under VAIDS, N92 billion was also declared in unpaid taxes. In terms of the audit process, the FIRS generated N12 billion from under-remitted tax payments.
Another initiative introduced saw the FIRS looking at businesses/ partnerships that had banking turnover in excess of N1 billion. Under this, the FIRS found that about 6, 000 of them do not have a tax ID, did not file returns and did not make any payments. Businesses in that category have paid N21.75 billion and are also paying the balance in instalments. The initiative also saw the FIRS looking at businesses/partnerships with a banking turnover between N100 million and N999 million.
The Service reviewed this group category of businesses through commercial banks. So far, there are 45,361 that have TIN and are making payments. There are also 40,611 that have TIN but have made no tax payment and 44,504 that have no TIN and therefore have made no payments.
The FIRS similarly has another special project through which corporate organisations that own companies or properties were not found within the tax net in 2017. Through this, it generated N1.33 billion in 2017 and N2.88 billion in 2018 in just Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory. This is an exercise is expected to cover the whole of the country to ensure more taxpayers are brought into the tax net.
Last week, there were media reports, which alleged that taxpayers’ money in the custody of the FIRS is missing. It was reported that some officers of the FIRS explored irregularities in the Service’s accounting system on Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) to collect claims that they are not due for.
However, a statement issued by the FIRS on Wednesday noted that “on the DTA (Duty Tour Allowance), it claimed that some staff applied for and were granted, allowances to travel for official trips. Some are alleged not to have travelled for the number of days, for which they were slated. The EFCC is looking into that. Sometimes, it is good to have a third party investigate matters like this instead of having a staff investigate another staff. Investigation by a third party is more objective. FIRS has since taken steps to remediate this. The EFCC will soon complete its investigation. Anybody found guilty will be dealt with through our administrative process.”
The issue at stake in this inquiry are operational/travel funds within our expenditure budget, Fowler said.
Speaking further on how the FIRS operates, Mr. Tunde Fowler explained that “taxes collected by the Service are not paid into the coffers of the Service. Rather, all taxes, are PAID DIRECTLY INTO THE FEDERATION ACCOUNT, electronically, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).”
The FIRS he said “does not have access to taxpayers money. Its operations are funded by appropriation of the National Assembly, through monthly remittances by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, (FAAC).
Fowler affirmed that no taxpayers’ money is missing in FIRS. “We have a relationship with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. We have a partnership, through which we combat evasion of taxes. People don’t want to get into trouble with EFCC. So, they pay on time.
He added that “FIRS acknowledges the statutory rights and responsibilities of anti-corruption agencies and other government agencies such as the EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), State Security Services, (SSS) to inquire into the operations of the Service.
The FIRS Chairman promised that “the Service would continue to give access to agencies with statutory rights and all those who seek information on the operations of the Service. Invitations of officials of the Service by EFCC, the Police, SSS and ICPC to shed light on financial transactions and operations of the Service, in the past, are not uncommon and are continuous.”
He noted that “the FIRS is a public trust, which we operate on behalf of Nigerians. He also affirmed that no officer of the FIRS is at large.”
He re-assured the general public of our unalloyed commitment to public accountability and transparency in the sacred mandate of tax collection.
https://thenationonlineng.net/fowler-firs-and-more-cash-for-fed-govt/

Prof Osinbajo is a listening leader.

BUHARI: WHY AND HOW HE WON BY Garba Shehu

President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to office in a seismic political shift that swept out of office 16 years of continuous rule by the People’s Democratic Party, PDP recorded yet another resounding victory to win a second term in office, leading his closest rival by a record-setting four million votes.

His party, the All Progressives Congress, APC gained the highest parliamentary majority in the Fourth Republic in the Senate and the House of Representatives, giving the President an ample room to carry out reforms he wished to carry out, but was outmaneuvered and frustrated by the Eighth National Assembly.

While campaigning for the 2015 general elections, President Buhari’s All APC made promises to end Boko Haram terrorism and secure the country for it to be efficiently managed; to restructure the economy, halt its downward slide and create jobs and to fight corruption because, as the president repeatedly says, “if Nigeria doesn’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.”

His climactic victory against the then incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, his strong message on the three issues as listed above, his practical and serious approach helped to awaken a nation misled by characters who placed self above nation for sixteen years and more.

The Buhari administration has established for itself an anti-corruption reputation and has been in office nearing four years without a major scandal. The African Union has on account of this, selected the President as the continent’s anti-corruption champion.

The Buhari administration can pat itself on the back for this achievement when it is viewed against the established culture in which corruption is the norm.

To win the war against corruption and institute transparency in the affairs of government, the Buhari administration introduced a number of fiscal reforms and plugged several leakages.

In the firm belief that the party was not mistaken about the problems facing the country, Candidate Buhari went into the February, 2019 campaign on the same issue platforms. The President and his party looked certain of victory from the sea of crowds that attended his political rallies all over the 36 states of the federation. He was the only candidate to have campaigned at least once in each state and the Federal Capital Territory.

These rallies attracted large crowds, mostly of the poor who are trusting in his impeccable qualities of honesty and integrity, and have bought into the idea that he will quickly push their country onto the top by lifting up the economy, creating jobs, securing the nation and ending the nightmarish corruption which had become the order of the day. Some of the events were marked by incidents of road accident, podium or building collapse and stampede leading to tragic losses of life.

At many of those well-attended rallies, the venues fell short of the people gathered. Thousands of supporters outside tried to barge into the inner rings of the venues. Pleas were not heard by surging crowds which resorted sometimes to throwing chairs, sachet water and bottles into the no-man zones in front of the stage.

It was evident from the commencement of the campaign that President Buhari had a a two-pronged election strategy, one to showcase the achievements of his administration in its first term and two, to cash in on his popularity with the lower rungs of the population.

The party itself doubled down on President Buhari by zeroing in on his image as a diligent, coolheaded and incorruptible leader. In that enduring appeal, the APC saw a trump card going into the election.

Nobody can question President Buhari’s achievements. They are there for all to see.

The administration has significantly curtailed corruption to the point of abolishing what is called “grand corruption.” Given Treasury Single Account,TSA, the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information Scheme, IPPS, the Bank Verification Number, BVN number and Whistle Blower schemes, it is no longer possible for people in authority to, for instance, request the withdrawal of millions, or sometimes billions of Naira or US Dollars to be shared among party members as was the practice under the past administrations. To boot, the Buhari administration has signed onto the global Open Government Partnership, OGP.

Reforms are being carried out in the justice sector with a number of domestic legislations and international agreements to facilitate the identification, tracing, freezing, recovery and forfeiture of ill-gotten assets.

The administration’s primary sectors of agriculture and solid minerals have experienced growth of 180 and 565 percentage points respectively. Nigeria has today achieved near self-sufficiency in rice production.

Government has launched a series of funding and capacity development initiatives to support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The work of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), inaugurated by President Buhari in August 2016 has resulted in moving Nigeria up 24 places on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings, and earning a place on the list of 10 most improved economies. In this regard, the administration has issued a number of Executive Orders on improving efficiency in the business environment and promoting local content.

The Buhari administration has also demonstrated a single-minded commitment to upgrading and developing Nigeria’s transport, power and health infrastructure.

Road projects are ongoing across every state of the country, with many of these projects having been abandoned for many years.

The country’s narrow-gauge rail network of 3,500 Kms is currently being upgraded; Abuja’s light rail system has been completed and commissioned with a link to the Abuja-Kaduna rail line, which has equally been completed and launched. The Ibadan-Lagos standard gauge rail is being test run. Ibadan-Kano has been awarded.

The administration has successfully reconstructed the Abuja Airport runway, completed and commissioned new terminal buildings in Port Harcourt and Abuja with Lagos, Kano, Enugu and the others soon to be inaugurated.

Several water supply projects and dam/irrigation projects have been completed and many more on the way to being delivered. About 100 ecological projects have been awarded and completed in the six geopolitical zones.

The Buhari administration has more than doubled power generation capacity. It has increased generation to 8,100 MW and expanded transmission to more than 7,000 MW capacity, and has successfully deployed thousands of solar power systems to rural and urban households.

This is an administration that has been investing in people. It has introduced a social Investment Programme (SIP), which so far, has four components. These are the N-power employment scheme that is hitting 500,000 this year, the home grown school feeding program that feeds more than nine million school children across the federation, the Government Enterprise and Empower Program, GEEP giving out interest-free loans to millions of market women, traders, artisans and farmers and the conditional cash transfer, CCT which pays N5,000 monthly to the poorest and most vulnerable households in the country.

In dealing with security, one of the first major steps by the Buhari administration was the revitalisation of the Multi-national Joint Task force, MNJTF aimed at combating transborder crime and the Boko Haram insurgency. The MNJTF has the support and participation of neighbouring countries Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, in addition to Nigeria.

On the day of his inauguration, the President had directed the relocation of the command and control centre of the Boko Haram war to Maiduguri, the epicentre of the insurgency.

The military has since proclaimed victory over the Boko Haram terrorists, following the capture of their operational and spiritual headquarters, “Camp Zero” in Sambisa Forest.

So far, more than one million displaced persons have returned to their homes and communities. About 20,000 hostages have been freed. One hundred and six (106) Chibok Girls, abducted in April 2014 and 105 Dapchi Girls abducted in February 2018 have been released and reunited with their families

In the area of diplomacy and international relations, the Buhari administration has re-established Nigeria’s position and influence in regional and global arena.

As a political leader, Muhammadu Buhari enjoys three formidable assets-- his record as a disciplined former Army General, his reputation as an honest leader who has not allowed corruption to flourish under his watch when he served as a state Military Governor, Minister of Petroleum and Military Head of State and the public perception of his record as one who stands for and by the truth, Mai Gaskiya.

The main opposition to President Buhari, the Peoples Democratic Party failed to realize how much these qualities meant to ordinary Nigerians; they did not reckon with the disillusionment of the citizens with their perceived acts of commission and omission for the 16 years they were in power.

They must by now, have realized with a with benefit of hindsight, that demonization and denigration of an individual does not bring in poll dividends. In their campaigns, they chose to demonise and denigrate Muhammadu Buhari as President. It did not pay.

Before and after this election, there is no face in the opposition who can match President Buhari’s inspiring character and personality. Many, including this reporter believe that it wasn’t the rail, road or achievements in the power sector that won this election for President Buhari. No doubt, these and many others are important. They may have added a bit here and a bit there. But what won it for him, was the focus by the voter on the single most important factor of Mai Gaskiya.

Mallam Garba Shehu is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity

This seems to be a season of international commendations for the microcredit scheme of the Federal Government.

In recognition of its impact driving financial inclusion in Nigeria, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and its products have earned recent recognition from the United Nations, African Leadership Institute and Oxford University.

GEEP, a microcredit initiative of the Federal Governmentstarted in 2016, includes MarketMoni, FarmerMoni, and the TraderMoni scheme which generated some controversy during the elections. However, with about 2 million Nigerians at the bottom of the pyramid accessing credit in 3 years and being brought into financial services of bank account and mobile wallets, there is consensus on the scale of impact the initiative wields. GEEP is today the largest public microcredit scheme in the world. 54.2% of its beneficiaries are women.

In a March session of 62ndUnited Nations Commission in New York, GEEP was commended for pushing the envelope in technological innovations for successful last-mile delivery of credit at massive scale. This was in recognition of the programme’s pioneering roles in building a completely digitised loan operation, positioning of Bank Verification (BVN) as digital collateral to aid financial inclusion, use of facial recognition for de-deduplication, GPS-based mapping and profile of candidates to markets, and exhaustive data capture to truly formalise the informal sector.

The radical approach to GEEP’s operation was perhaps a major influence for the recent recognition bestowed on the programme’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Uzoma Nwagba, by a partnership between the African Leadership Initiative and University of Oxford.

Last week, the COO, together with 22 other emerging African leaders picked across the continent, was announced as a recipient of 2019 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship. The Desmond Tutu Fellowship is set up by AFLI and Oxford to identify and cultivate young African leaders whose works have achieved “far reaching impact on the continent.”

GEEP, a financial inclusion scheme driven by technology has registered over 7million micro-enterprises in less than 3 years – and is on a mission to deliver access to finance and financial inclusion at Nigeria’s base of the pyramid.

More pix

Some Nigerians are calling on the DSS to arrest Ben Murray Bruce.

more

Over 12m Nigerians currently beneficiaries of Programmes

*9.5 million pupils now being fed under School Feeding programme

*1 million poorest households to benefit from Cash Transfer

*Next Level: 10m Nigerians to benefit from GEEP schemes, with 1 million new additions to N-Power in the offing

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
PRESS RELEASE
HOMEGROWN SCHOOL FEEDING NOW IN 30 STATES AS FG TARGETS MILLIONS MORE FOR SOCIAL INVESTMENT SCHEMES
*Over 12m Nigerians currently beneficiaries of Programmes
*9.5 million pupils now being fed under School Feeding programme
*1 million poorest households to benefit from Cash Transfer
*Next Level: 10m Nigerians to benefit from GEEP schemes, with 1 million new additions to N-Power in the offing.
In continuation of its efforts to invest in the country’s human capital development, the Buhari administration has continued to make significant strides through its National Social Investment Programmes (N-SIP).
President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s NSIP, is aimed at empowering Nigerians and improving their livelihood through several initiatives.
Millions of Nigerians nationwide are currently benefitting from the different schemes under the N-SIP, which is the largest social welfare scheme in the history of the country.
Through its Conditional Cash transfer (CCT) scheme, the administration is supporting the most vulnerable in society, while developing a skilled workforce for economic productivity by providing jobs for millions of Nigerian youths through the N-Power programme, and improving the learning and cognitive skills of Nigeria’s children through the Home-Grown School Feeding programme (NHGSFP).
Also, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) provide financial support through micro-credit schemes to small traders and businesses at the bottom of the financial pyramid. Beneficiaries include petty traders, women cooperatives, youths, famers and agricultural workers.
Subsequently, in the Next Level of the Buhari administration, about 10 million Nigerians are expected to benefit from GEEP, which includes TraderMoni. MarketMoni and FarmerMoni. While the Cash Transfer scheme aims to reach one million poorest households, one million new beneficiaries are expected to be added to the N-Power scheme, arguably the largest job creation and youth employment scheme in Africa.

The administration’s National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), which has a target of reaching 12 million pupils, is currently feeding over 9.5 million public primary school (classes 1-3) pupils with one free, balanced and nutritious meal a day in 30 states nationwide; while it has empowered 101,913 cooks in these states.
The 30 states currently benefiting from the school feeding programme are: Anambra, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kogi, Sokoto, and Nasarawa.
Others include Taraba, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Plateau, Delta, Zamfara, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Niger, Katsina, Ondo, Edo and Gombe.

The HGSFP has not only helped to increase enrollment rates of pupils in these communities, it is also effectively tackling early year malnutrition, while improving the cognitive skills of children.

The School feeding programme has also provided sustainable income for local farmers, cooks, which has increased growth and productivity in the local economy.

As of March; 297,973 Nigerians in 20 states (including the Borno IDP camps) are current beneficiaries under the National Cash Transfer Policy Programme (Conditional Cash Transfer), which started in December 2017; with over 5,000 savings groups and cooperatives formed as a result.

The following states are currently receiving payment: Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Nassarawa, Niger, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, and Taraba.

The Conditional Cash Transfer is designed to deliver timely and accessible cash to beneficiary households and so enhance their capacity for sustainable livelihood. The programme provides beneficiaries - poor and vulnerable households - with a monthly transfer of N5,000 with the sole aim of taking them out of poverty.

In the same vein, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), which has the MarketMoni, FarmerMoni and TraderMoni schemes, currently has a combined total of over 1.7 million Nigerians benefiting from these schemes.

So far, since after the national and state polls, 30,000 minimum beneficiaries have been added to the TraderMoni scheme, which provides interest-free loans starting from N10,000 to petty traders nationwide and is payable within six months.

In addition, upon repayment of the N10,000 loans, some beneficiaries in some states, including Lagos, Osun, Borno, Ogun and Benue, have now started receiving the 2ndimproved interest-free TraderMoni loan of N15,000.

Managed by the Bank of Industry, GEEP schemes provide financial support through micro-credit schemes to beneficiaries which include petty traders, women cooperatives, youths, famers and agricultural workers.

In the same vein, the Administration’s N-Power scheme, which is designed to provide jobs for unemployed young graduates, and is arguably the largest job creation and youth employment scheme in Africa, has currently engaged 500,000 youth graduates deployed to provide public health services in teaching, health, agriculture and tax and monitoring; and a further 200,000 non-graduates in training or attached to organisations as interns.

N-Power beneficiaries across the 36 states and the FCT are provided with a N30,000 monthly stipend, in addition to technology devices with relevant content for continuous learning. Many N-power beneficiaries have gone on to become entrepreneurs who are building successes in their chosen vocations.

Revealed: How NEPZA Top Officials Plot To Corner N42Billion FG Funds, Frustrate Rapid Industrial Schemes.
As Special economic zone plans garner support from global industry concerns & institutional investors. A deliberate plot hatched by some top officials of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA, to corner over N40B meant for the establishment of Special Economic Zones in the country has been unearthed, raising contrived dust over the Buhari administration’s plan to create Special Economic Zones targeted for the rapid industrialization of the country. When recently the Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment, Dr. Okey Enelamah presented the ministry’s 2019 Budget details to the relevant Senate committee, questions where raised about the creation of a limited liability company with 25% FG interest, the retention of three FG officials as directors, and the allocation of government’s funds to the company. Mr Jime CEO But informed sources explained that the Senators involved were only acting on information provided by NEPZA officials to deliberately mislead them into concluding that the said funds belonged to NEPZA, and not to the limited liability company formed specifically for the purpose, ie the Nigeria Special Economic Zone Investment Company. According to a top government official involved in what seems like a presidential review of the unfolding controversy, “the Federal Government adopted a model to speedily and rapidly develop the Special Economic Zones using a PPP model as was done in other countries like China and a number of African countries.” Continuing, the source said, “the strategy involved the setting up of a limited liability company that included the FG and some institutional investors like African Development Bank, ADB, the African Finance Corporation, AFC, the Bank of Industry, BOI, AFREXIMBAMK, and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA in a 25% —75% FG and institutional investors ratio. And to secure FG’S interest, three government officials were put forward in the interim as directors in line with the usual practice when such companies involving FG are set up.” Said another industry source, “using government officials including aides is nothing to worry about since they are there to protect government interests at the take-off stage, pending when a proper board can be in place and the company ready to go full throttle. Besides the people chosen as interim directors are those who are driving the project and are knowledgeable within the ministries involved being Finance on the one hand and Industry, Trade & Investment on the other.” Besides, as is done elsewhere around the world, such government representative directors are not entitled to any beneficial interests in the company shares. “Bringing up the issue of these directors was simply a mudslinging attempt to mislead the public, but it has no fuel at all, considering that it is a global practice and the directors are interim and non- beneficiaries,” the source explained. Investigations however revealed that the NEPZA immediate past Managing Director, Emmanuel Jime and the acting MD Engr. T.D Nongo, to whom Jime handed over, devised the entire plot to ensure that the N42B allocated for the development of the Special Economic Zones be controlled and disbursed by NEPZA instead of the Special Purpose Vehicle established by a Presidential directive straight from President Muhammadu Buhari’s desk. But in order to ensure this, they needed support in the National Assembly. Said a top official of one of the investigating agencies of the government “this was how the top NEPZA hierarchy sold a carefully designed package of outright falsehood and suppression of relevant facts to the National Assembly and decided to smear the President’s plan in order to corner the funds and control disbursement of the money instead of allowing the limited liability company formed for that purpose to be in charge.” According to that investigative agency source, “what we now know is that while Jime went to run for election in the last round of elections, for which he had to resign as NEPZA MD, the most senior officer to whom he handed over the reins of NEPZA is actually also one of the main fund-raisers/coordinators of his gubernatorial campaign.” The source added that “therefore the campaign of calumny against the President’s industrial plan and against the Industry, Trade & Investment Ministry is being fueled by both Jime and Nongo. “At stake is the control of Project MINE”, – the name of the plan to speedily industrialize the country through the promotion of Made in Nigeria goods for Export, for which MINE is an acronym. “They are both bent on controlling the N42B approved in the budget,” it was disclosed. The NEPZA officials started with the argument that the agency is the one through which the FG can make investments in the Free Trading Zones. So, the matter was referred to the Attorney-General of the Federation for legal advice. And it was after the AGF counseled that NEPZA was a regulatory agency and not the exclusive implementing agency for such projects that the officials, determined not to let go of the funds connived to develop a plot to smear the whole effort by raising questions and provoking sensational narratives around a model that is best global practice and that enjoys the support of major international institutional investors. “If this were indeed fishy how do you think such institutional investors whose global operations depend mainly on their transparency and credibility be part of it, considering that the institutional investors are coming up with 75% of the money?, an industry source wondered. Between the FG and the institutional investors, the investment company, the Nigeria Special Economic Zone Investment Company, NSEZCO, is expected to raise $500m in equity by 2023. While many of the strategic investors have already signed on, the MINE project which the NSEZCO will be delivering has secured significant international partnerships already. For instance Shandong Ruyi, the leading textile and garment group in China has already announced its commitment to invest $2B to the cotton, textile and garment industry for the Special Economic, (free trading) Zones the NSEZCO will put up in Abia, Kano and Lagos States. Equally, CCCG Industrial Investment Holding Company, CIHC, of China, which is ranked 91st in Fortune 500 and is the third largest international contractor in the world, has also signed a letter of intent to invest in the forthcoming Special Economic Zone in Lekki, specifically in the areas of power, water, access roads and bridges. “These are some of the critical and significant plans that few NEPZA officials are trying to scuttle, “ according to a government official aware of the presidential review of the controversy sparked last week when the Industry, Trade & Investment Minister briefed a Senate committee on the project. Some of the Special Economic Zone projects are the much talked about Enyimba Economic City in Abia, the Lekki-Epe Model Industrial Park, Funtua Cotton Cluster, and several others being planned for Edo, Kwara, Sokoto, Ebonyi, and Benue States among others.

Continue reading at https://persecondnews.com/2019/04/10/revealed-how-nepza-top-officials-plot-to-corner-n42bfg-funds-frustrate-rapid-industrial-schemes/ | PER SECOND NEWS

HOW AN EFFECTIVE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE CAN HELP HEALTHCARE DELIVERY IN NIGERIA, BY OSINBAJO

*Adds: Scheme Central in FG’s Next Level Plans

An effective National Health Insurance scheme remains the best panacea for the development of the health sector and an efficient healthcare delivery in the country, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Speaking while receiving a delegation of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, in his office earlier today, Prof Osinbajo said, “We have a good opportunity to do something about the National Health Insurance; it is obvious that government, both Federal Government and State Governments, cannot adequately provide healthcare for almost 200million Nigerian people.”

Citing India as an example, he mentioned that India has the most privatized healthcare system in the world, with individual States being responsible for providing healthcare.

In addition, VP Osinbajo emphasized the need for “Doctors to be remunerated properly regardless of their location, either rural or urban locations. We must find a logical way of addressing this issue.”

Continuing he said, “We must ensure that the states pick up their own part of the responsibility of providing healthcare in their States. With the National Economic Council, NEC, there is the opportunity to talk to State governors and one of the things we do is to look at the human development indices, especially for Primary Health Care.”

“There are States that are simply not doing enough and we must ensure that they step up to the plate. States must be held to account because a lot of the responsibilities are theirs.”

But he emphasized that National Health Insurance is the key in resolving a lot of the financial problems in the Health Sector, adding that this administration has made the National Health Insurance central to the plans for the healthcare system in APC’s Next Level document.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, mentioned the ministry’s strides in achieving the Universal Health Coverage towards the expansion of the National Health Insurance Scheme.

He thanked the Presidency for the presidential assent of the Appropriation Act, which for the first time, approved the release of the 1% for the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, and disclosed that the Ministry of Finance has released the first quarter allocation of N13.7billion.

In addition, the Minister of Health said the Basic Health Care Provision Fund would also help in fast-tracking the development of the National Health Insurance Scheme.

In his own remarks, the President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Francis Faduyile, congratulated the President and Vice President on their victory at the 2019 Presidential elections. He also acknowledged the administration’s efforts in the health sector, which includes the signing of the Residency Training Act, the release of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, as well as the recently improved Cancer Centre in Lagos University Teaching Hospital.


Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity
Office of the Vice President
8th April 2019

Dear Professor Yemi Osinbajo, you have exhibited uncommon wisdom, remarkable vision, and exemplary leadership. I wish you peace, good health, and happiness. Congratulations and happy birthday!

Kaduna South is APC's stronghold. Hausas are the majority in Kaduna South. Southern Kaduna is different from Kaduna south. Don't be deceived.

There was no time PVC was a requirement to collect the TraderMoni loan. You can do yourself good by asking those market men and women to know if what am saying is true or not. TraderMoni is not vote buying.

The unusual Saturday.

Yesterday February 16th would have been a remarkable date in our history but the elections slated for that day was postponed at the wee hours to the election.

There were many reactions to the development and a lot of people ignorantly blamed the APC for the postponement.

However, many argued that Buhari will also be remembered in history for postponing elections just as Jonathan did. Really? This is sheer ignorance.
In 2015, INEC postponed the election due to the fact that the Govt through the service chiefs said they can't be election due to insecurity challenges. And that made the polls to be shifted for 6 weeks.

Do we have the same scenario now?
Absolutely NO! INEC hinged on the fact that they have logistics challenges that's why they can't go on with the elections as planned.

During the INEC interactive session with stakeholders yesterday, the APC chairman was angry visible with commission even after initial condemnation of the postponement.
But the representative of the PDP was commending INEC for the postponement despite condemning INEC in the first place. Hypocrisy? You guess is as good as mine.

INEC cannot be fully exonerated from the blames but let's look at those attacking and destroying INEC facilities and materials. We had instances in Plateau, Anambra, Benue and Akwa Ibom states.

Some desperate politicians are hell bent to make sure this election is thrown into chaos so that their goals will be achieved.

Why is it difficult for the security agencies to fish them out?

What we demand from INEC is a free, fair and credible election devoid of manipulation, interference and rigging.

Lastly, INEC should demand full security for their personnel and election materials because the spate of attacks on INEC is not just disappointing but disgraceful.

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
PRESS RELEASE

STRONG MOMENTUM & CONTINUOUS GROWTH IN ECONOMY FURTHER SHOW BUHARI ADMINISTRATION'S POLICIES WORKING


*2018 overall reflects sustained improvement in non-oil sector

In what is a clear indication of the effectiveness of the economic policies of the Buhari presidency, Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures recorded a marked improvement in the fourth quarter of 2018.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the GDP figure for the last quarter in 2018 is 2.38 per cent, reflecting continuous growth.

Below is a statement released in response to the new GDP figure by the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu:

"The latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, 2.38 per cent for the fourth Quarter (Q4), 2018 show an appreciable improvement in the growth performance of the economy. The figures are encouraging in several respects.

Notably, the growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2018 (Q4 2018) was higher than both the growth of 1.81% in Q3 2018 and in the corresponding fourth quarter of 2017. Indeed, quarter-on-quarter growth from Q3 2018 to Q4 2018 was 5.31%, which signals a great potential for a higher annual growth rate.

In annual terms, the growth rate more than doubled in 2018, rising to 1.93% as compared to 0.82% in 2017, again reflecting the strong momentum of growth.

Also notable is the fact that growth in Q4 2018, and indeed for the whole year, owed a great deal to the performance of the non-oil sector. The non-oil sector grew at 2.7% in Q4 2018 as compared to 1.14% in the oil sector. The non-oil sector also grew by 2% in the whole year 2018 which was considerably better than its growth in the whole of 2017, which was 0.47%. The share of the non-oil sector in GDP was 92.94% while the oil sector contributed 7.06%.

With the maintenance of this trend, the economic diversification objectives of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan are well on their way to being met.

It was encouraging that agriculture which accounts for 26.15% of total GDP grew by 2.46% in Q4 2018, while manufacturing grew by 2.09%. The service sector which accounts for 53.62% of GDP registered its strongest growth performance in 11 quarters.

Transport and storage, as well and information and communication, were particularly notable growing at 13.91% and 9.65% in the whole of 2018. This owes a lot to the investments that are being made in roads and rail as well as in broadband infrastructure.

The NBS figures also show that 39 out of 46 economic activities recorded growth in Q4 2018 which shows that growth across sectors is becoming more mutually reinforcing.

This growth is consistent with the policies and principles of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) relating to macroeconomic stability and economic diversification. When better economic fundamentals like lower inflation rates, increased foreign reserves, a more stable exchange rate and increased capital inflows are taken together with increased investments in the real sector, infrastructure, the social sector and business environment; it portends well for economic performance in 2019 and beyond.

Indeed, the economy remains well on course to grow by 3% in 2019 as estimated in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework."

The Buhari administration will continue to pursue the ERGP diligently and Nigerians can expect that economic conditions will continue to get better even as we move on to the Next Level.


Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
12 February, 2019

Copyright ©️ 2019, Office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, All rights reserved.

IF FAROOK KPEROOGI WAS A TRADER

If Farook Kperoogi was a trader, his store would always have one police man and a customer inside, at every point in time. Why? He would have sold fake items, and the unsuspecting customers would have returned with the force of law to demand a refund and call for the shutdown of his store. Worse, if he was a pharmacist, he would have been responsible for the death of a great percentage of those who make the error of patronising him.

Farook Kperoogi is a trader indeed. But his stock in trade is not the sale of household items, pharmaceuticals or general goods. He is a merchant of fake news. Of lies and of stories that have no place in reality.

Farook Kperoogi is notorious for coming up with figments of his imagination and ascribing the status of fact to them, as if they were indeed so. He does not spare his unsuspecting readers in his most recent piece: A VOTE FOR APC ISN`T A VOTE FOR BUHARI.

In this ridiculous piece he points to the existence of cabals who he claims are stealing the common wealth of the nation. In his customary fashion, he shows no evidence, and provides no proofs. This has often made many question that he is a so-called lecturer. Shouldn’t a lecturer know better that you do not make assertions like this without at least any supporting evidence?

I have stumbled on some items of commentaries online on his lecturing by his students in Kennesaw University, and their reviews have helped me understand the absurdity that he is. They have most times noted that the Associate Professor is out of touch with reality and forces his wrong opinions on them.

In this ignorant piece that he attempts to sell, Farook makes an attack on the Vice President. A laughable one. He forgets that the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has his credentials of integrity and unquestionable honesty intact. All times Professor Osinbajo has been accused of a wrong, all times it has turned out false. This cannot be said of Farook who at every time he has put his pen to paper and churned out half baked lies, he has been ridiculed and embarrassed with facts to the contrary.

He claims the Vice President is a mere figure-head. A man who teaches comprehension and communication and sees all the activities the Vice President is engaged in, yet calls him a mere figure-head is indeed a trader of fake news.

To start with, compare the Vice President with former Vice Presidents and the roles they played in office. Professor Osinbajo has stood out in terms of his active de facto participation in governance, in the economy and even in politics. It is no news that he is the only Vice President Nigeria has ever had who has acted as President, and exercised those powers as if he were the President with no shortcomings or setbacks - from the President or in the quality of the decisions he made.

As Vice President, Professor Yemi plays the constitutional and critical role of heading Nigeria’s economy. And he has done this fantastically well. He is credited for being the mind behind taking Nigeria out of recession by leading an economic management team that came up with the unconventional policies that has put Nigeria on steady growth.

He is actively leading Nigeria’s journey to diversifying the economy through the route of improving our non-oil sector growth and creating inclusiveness for the poor. The poor today are being given an opportunity to come out of poverty and take advantage of sustainable opportunities that would enable them create wealth.

Vice President Osinbajo is known to manage the Social Investment Programmes: Nigeria’s most ambitious, most credible, and most effective Social Investment attempt. It is recorded that over ten million Nigerians are in one way or the other benefitting from the programmes.

If Farook was an honest man, he would at least have put these in the front burner when he scribbled the insult of an article he penned. A compulsive liar and an evil one too. 

He also puts on the table some events that he claims to have taken place in the villa and says they indeed happened. He is obsessed with the existence of a cabal.

Asides the fact that these events exist only in the imaginations of Farook, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo does not just enjoy the respect, loyalty and honour of the friends of the President, his inner circle and his appointees, Osinbajo also enjoys the support, respect and regard of President Buhari - who has said this and shown this time without number.

The Buhari - Osinbajo relationship is blessed and orchestrated divinely - it is the most proactive, balanced and in fact the best synergy between a President and his Vice we have ever seen.

The likes of Kperoogi, the bitter rotten lemons, who are morose when good things happen may continue to sell their fake goods and fake products to unsuspecting victims. But like all fake items, they do not last, they cause a rumble in the tummy, and they are thrown away. Nigerians are wiser, they do not buy nonsense anymore.

OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
PRESS RELEASE
WE WILL NOT FORGET OUR MILITARY HEROES, VP OSINBAJO SAYS AT ARMED FORCES REMEMBRANCE SERVICE
REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE INTERDENOMINATIONAL CHURCH SERVICE FOR 2019 ARMED FORCES REMEMBRANCE DAY CELEBRATION HELD AT THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN CENTRE, ABUJA ON SUNDAY 13, JANUARY 2019
Today, again we participate in an annual tradition of remembering and honoring our departed military heroes. This particular Remembrance Day is perhaps more poignant than any other. In the past few weeks, we have buried 13 soldiers and one officer, and just last week, 2 Air force pilots and 3 airmen; all these men died in battle fending off Boko Haram and Isis West Africa terrorists in the Northeast of Nigeria.
In the past few years we have seen patriotism at its highest; our valiant men and women of the Armed Forces have destroyed the backbone of Boko Haram who once attacked Abuja, Kano and Kaduna, with impunity and hoisted their tattered flags over 17 Local Governments in the North East of Nigeria.
Today, both Boko Haram and Isis West Africa operate as small, even if deadly guerilla bands, in parts of Borno State. But in these battles, we have been sharply reminded that indeed “freedom is not free”. That peace is often paid for with blood and gore. And that no Nation can secure its territory without the selflessness and the supreme sacrifices of many.
And truly as someone said: "Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it, it flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it."
So as we celebrate this Remembrance Day, we solemnly thank the Almighty God for giving us men and women ready to obey the call to fight and if need be, die for the fatherland.
We are grateful that they were faithful to the cause, that they did not betray the trust of millions, that they gave up all the comforts of life and the love and affection of family that we may enjoy the same.
Our posthumous thanks to them and their families, who not only bore the fearful apprehension of their going to war, but also the heartbreak of their deaths. But our gratitude must also mean a commitment to ensuring that their families are cared for, that their children do not ask why the sacrifices they made were made at all.
As important is to ensure that they did not die in vain, this unity and territorial integrity of the nation, for which they died, must not be jeopardized by the reckless utterances and actions, which play on the religious and ethnic fault lines of our Nation.
The ordinary people of Nigeria have demonstrated time and time again, that they share common problems and that they have a common destiny. The desire for food, shelter, clothing and decent jobs is not blinkered by tribe, tongue or faith. Our unity and peaceful coexistence is the best tribute to our fallen heroes.
Your Excellencies, my Lords, today on behalf of a grateful nation, I honour the bold and brave departed and pay heartfelt tribute to their families, indeed the families daily pay the supreme sacrifice by their loss, and I thank the Almighty God for our Nation, and for the men and women of honour and courage that gave all for it.
God bless the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
God bless Nigeria.
Released by:
Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity
Office of the Vice President
January 13, 2019

FEBRUARY 16, 2019: WHY NIGERIANS WILL NOT LOOK BACK
*There is no way Nigeria is returning to its past

In this past three and a half years of the Buhari presidency, one, thankfully, has learnt, experienced and been part of quite a number of things. One of those things is the amount of dedication, the depth of patriotic zeal and sheer hard-work that is going on in this administration.
I know the President’s determination to end grand corruption, not only by his exemplary personal example, but by insisting on the proper processes and by empowering institutions. I know the level of intellectual exertions and sheer human rigour that the Vice President daily brings to his work. Even most, if not all Nigerians and close watchers of Nigerian events, have settled on the notion that not only are both gentlemen, honest people of integrity, but that they are also truly united in taking Nigeria to where this country truly belongs. We have seen the direction of the Change promised, it is a right direction, and direction is destiny.
Today, in the early days of a new year in which elections are due in a matter of weeks, there is simply no match for this team, be it in vision or political probability and other forms of readiness to take Nigeria forward. The choice can’t be more stark: between Buhari and Osinbajo on the one hand and Atiku and Obi on the other. Whichever way you dice it, this is a black and white, open and close case.
So, we have an opposition that is led by a politician that represents the failure of the past, backed by a running mate who seem determined to simply bamboozle the Nigerian people with any imaginable talking point regardless of veracity, who himself have openly conceded to being part of the problem.
Let us start from there. Former Governor Peter Obi concedes in a Channels TV video of August 2018 (which has actually gone viral) that he was part of the decision not to save for the rainy day; his own admission before he joined this race. His principal, former Vice President Abubakar Atiku admitted that he was in charge when the electricity power reforms were being bungled and, by his own admission, money simply went down the drain while he was VP and similarly in all the other PDP presidencies that followed. So, we have about $16B thrown out the window by the opposition and their flag-bearer indeed owned up to that confounding profligacy, and incredible acts of corruption, waste and mismanagement.
Just so we don’t leave matters to conjecture, or hearsay, here are the words of the former VP in a May 25, 2014 Channels TV interview: “We collected money from local governments, States and others. Five sets of contracts were given. Some contractors were paid 100%. We left, nothing was achieved. Then President Yar’Adua came, he also made available money and it went down the drain. President Jonathan came, he also made money available and it went down the drain.”
Now add to that, the matter of grand corruption. If you are in my job environment in the media and communication arena, you could even think this matter has been over-flogged. We have been told by some that we should stop talking about it and rather focus on what we have succeeded in achieving.
Yes, we have succeeded in relaunching a massive infrastructural era in the history of this country, spending an unprecedented N2.7 Trillion in two budget cycles on capital expenditure, even when our revenues are at times 60% lower than previous administration. And we have the projects in practically every State and geopolitical zone. Yes, it is true that the World Bank endorsed the economic direction of the administration when it ranked Nigeria among the top ten reforming economies in 2017, the same year we moved up 24 places in the bank’s global Ease of Doing Business ranking.
Yes, we have put in place an Anchor Borrowers Programme for farmers, where close to 800,000 farmers have benefited from soft loans to help in the agricultural diversification of the economy. This explains in good part what The Punch Newspaper editorial of December 31, 2018 described as “Nigeria’s Rice Revolution,” praising the quest for self- sufficiency.
Yes, we have been paying pensioners (in different public sectors) their claims that had backlogged for years and which were not paid when oil was selling at over $100. Yes, we have hired half a million otherwise unemployed graduates across the country and are feeding about 9.3m primary school pupils in 26 States one free nutritious meal a day.
Yes, almost 2 million petty traders are collecting a N10,000 initial loan - a collateral and interest free micro-credit scheme called TraderMoni - to support their bottom of the ladder trading; traders who otherwise have no access to any form of credit. This is besides MarketMoni, where traders and artisans are getting between N50,000 to as much as N300,000 soft loans to enlarge their business. We have done about 400,000 of such loans. And yes, we have a Conditional Cash Transfer of N5,000 monthly to the poorest and most vulnerable among us, with almost 300,000 Nigerians benefiting, although we are targeting one million.
Now, the point is we were able do all these even when we are earning less, at times 60% less, simply because President Buhari has ended grand corruption! So, there is no such thing as ‘stop talking about grand corruption.’ My Principal has in fact come under some orchestrated media onslaught on account of the anti- grand corruption narratives. But we have to talk about it! We should not and would not relent because honest leadership is very central today for Nigeria’s leadership.
Nigerians are now comparing those highlights with the opposition party’s 16 years of grand corruption, lies and visionlessness. Certainly, the people are wiser and will not be given to the comprehensive display of grand deceit that is now hallmarking the campaign of the other party.
Besides, how can you set aside the several instances - at home and abroad - of settled facts regarding corrupt PDP leaders including its current presidential flag-bearer? In many of such cases these are open secret and the prosecution of these cases would certainly have to be taken to their logical conclusions sooner or later, both at home and abroad.
One example that readily comes to mind is the February 2010 report of the US Senate Permanent Investigations Subcommittee that implicated the PDP flagbearer. This is what the Chairman of that committee, Senator Carl Levin, had to say then:
“Our third case history examines Jennifer Douglas, a U.S. citizen and a wife of Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and former presidential candidate in Nigeria. From 2000 to 2008, she helped her husband bring more than $40 million in suspect money into the United States through wire transfers from offshore corporations. Ms. Douglas is alleged in a 2008 civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission to have received $2.8 million in bribe payments from a German conglomerate, Siemens AG. Siemens has pleaded guilty to criminal charges and settled civil charges related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and told the Subcommittee that it sent payments to her account at Citibank. The Subcommittee located three wire transfers, substantiating $1.7 million in payments from Siemens to Ms. Douglas in 2001 and 2002. Of the $40 million, the Subcommittee traced nearly $25 million in offshore wire transfers into U.S. accounts controlled by Ms. Douglas, provided primarily by three offshore corporations called LetsGo, Sima Holdings, and Guernsey Trust Company.”
Continuing, the report added that, “Ms Douglas indicated that all of the funds came from her husband and professed little familiarity with the offshore corporations actually sending her the money. In addition, two of the offshore corporations wire transferred about $14 million over five years to American University in Washington DC to pay for consulting services related to the development of a Nigerian university founded by Mr. Abubakar.”
According to Levin in that report, this kind of corruption “is a cancer that corrodes the rule of law, undermines economic development and eats away at the fabric of civil society. Corruption can destabilize communities, and lead to failed states, lawlessness and terrorism.” In fact, the accomplices in some of the criminal cases that developed out of this are cooling their heels in jails, including a former US Congressman. Whoever thinks Nigerians will fall for the grand scale deceit that attempts to ignore this reality will learn a telling lesson next month!
Which is why I am confident that there is no way Nigeria is going backwards. It just won’t happen. The days of politics and governance based on outrightly raw personal aggrandizement have not quite disappeared, but you bet those days are now numbered.
Nigerians are now paying attention to the undeniable fact that a federal administration which earned less resources in a little over three years has more to show for it than all previous administrations in the 16 years before it, including several years when oil was selling in the international market for over $100.
That does not take rocket science to figure out. According to OPEC statistics between 2010 and 2014, Nigeria earned over $383B from oil sales. Yet at the end of 2014 and into 2015, the nation’s foreign reserves was as low as below $30B. Fast forward to 2015 to 2018, even when oil prices dropped, Nigeria’s foreign reserves has increased significantly. As at January 4, 2019, Nigeria’s foreign reserves stood at $43B, the highest in the last six years.
Let me conclude on a slightly personal note. I believe with all my heart that President Buhari & Vice President Osinbajo are on a restoration mission and it is divine. There are many like me who had prayed and hoped for a dutiful government that will reform the Federal Government. The truth is: that prayer has been answered. And while there is still so much left to be done, we as a people must ensure that we stay the course and give our nation a true opportunity to fulfill what I believe is a manifest destiny already. What use is their in going back to Egypt?

Laolu Akande
SSA, Media and Publicity,
Office of the Vice President,
Federal Republic of Nigeria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gvsq4nWEbo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te07WW59aQY


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9ZeMWfe00I


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cll5aj6NdUY


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmgCJnyZv2o

PRESS RELEASE BY PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI CAMPAIGN ORGANISATION:

WHEN THE THIEF IS SHOUTING “THIEF”:
THE CASE OF ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR

A few days ago, the Presidential Candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, called out President Muhammadu Buhari over certain allegations of “corrupt practices” which the President allegedly condones in his government. Whilst we have repeatedly addressed each and every of the instances cited by him to show the transparent nature of the government, it is shocking that the Presidential candidate of the main opposition has refused to issue a personal statement up till this minute clarifying in details his record of crass corruption and abuse of office. He is clearly taking Nigerians for a ride and hopes to distort the ethical revolution in public office that Nigerians clearly desire to his own philosophy of abusing public office to promote private interests. By his subliminal messages, he wants Nigerians to accept that becoming wealthy by abusing public office is not a bad thing after all.

With the avalanche of fake and unsubstantiated news released in the last few days, it is now clear that PDP’s strategy in the run up to the elections is to spread fake news and make wild allegations without any proof against the President and the Vice President. This is clearly to divert attention from the record of crass corruption and abuse of office of their own candidate. Nigerians cannot and should not be insulted by the PDP after 16 years of looting of the nation, by now putting forward a man whose record of corruption they very much acknowledge, but would rather we all overlook it.

Some of the indisputable facts regarding Alhaji Atiku Abubakar are as follows:

1. The U.S Congress in a report titled, KEEPING FOREIGN CORRUPTION OUT OF THE UNITED STATES: FOUR CASE HISTORIES, featured Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as one of the four notorious cases of money laundering in the world!

2. The Congress report said “Jennifer Douglas Abubakar, a U.S. citizen, is the fourth wife of Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice President of Nigeria and a former candidate for the Presidency of Nigeria...... from 2000 to 2008, Ms. Douglas helped her husband bring over $40 million in suspect funds into the United States, including at least $1.7 million in bribe payments from Siemens AG, a German corporation, and over $38 million from little known offshore corporations, primarily LetsGo Ltd. Inc., Guernsey Trust Company Nigeria Ltd., and Sima Holding Ltd”.

3. Atiku’s co-conspirators, Williams Jefferson and Siemens in the bribery deal were convicted and Jefferson went to jail. By running for President of Nigeria, Atiku intends to get some immunity from prosecution. Already he is hoping to obtain a visa to visit the US, as a guest of the State department, a concession that the US will grant to a Presidential candidate of Africa’s biggest Nation.

4. Both the BBC and Voice of America reported that “In a probe ordered by Mr. Obasanjo, (then Nigerian President) the vice-president was accused of diverting $125m from a public development trust fund into his personal businesses.”; Please see 1016 BBC, Profile: Atiku Abubakar, January 25, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/ 6292141.stm (Voice of America, “Nigerian Vice President Charged with Corruption,” October 10, 2006, http:// www1.voanews.com/english/news/a-).

5. A Senate subcommittee investigating the PTDF indicted Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, having found that he abused his office by aiding and abetting the diversion of public funds in the sum of $145 million” as loans to his friends. This report was a subject of a full-blown investigation by the EFCC which actually recommended his prosecution in a court of law. That report is still pending and alive till today.

How do we as a Nation end up with anyone with this sordid record locally and internationally? We have heard the lame defence that the U.S Justice Department said it has no pending case against Atiku Abubakar. That is only a defence for the ignorant ones. In the United States, there are indictments the Justice Department can confirm to the world. But there is another category of indictments known as SEALED INDICTMENTS that the Justice Department cannot confirm to anyone. These indictments are sealed under the orders of a Judge. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has a sealed indictment waiting for him in the U.S. The day he visits the U.S, not as a candidate in an election, he will face charges.
There is no question that the reasons for Atiku’s frequent contests for the Presidency are to steal the resources of Nigeria for self-enrichment and to prevent prosecution for his crimes of laundering and receiving bribes. No amount of fake news or ridiculous false allegations against the President or Vice President that can wash away the well-documented history of theft.
We also challenge the PDP to publish a single line in the sub-committee recommendation of the House of Reps on the NEMA Emergency purchases where the report accused the Vice President of embezzlement of funds. They either do this within 24 hours or keep quiet forever. It is even noteworthy that the House of Representatives have not adopted any such recommendation to make it a report of the House.
We also challenge them to show any proof whatsoever of their allegations regarding the TraderMoni.
After three days of publicly announcing that they have hard proof that the President’s relations bought shares in Etisalat and Keystone Bank, the PDP has not produced a single piece of paper, a document of any sort to buttress the grave allegations it made. This is how shameless and callous the Atiku team has become, all in a desperate bid to get their hands on the public purse.
Lastly, we challenge Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for the umpteen time to produce his tax receipts for 2015, 2016 and 2017. It is shocking that a man who has not been paying his Personal Income Taxes now says he wants to “get Nigerians working again” - whatever that means. He is only deceiving himself and not the intelligent Nigerians that we know.
Thank you.

FESTUS KEYAMO, SAN, FCIArb (UK)
Director, Strategic Communications,
President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation
(Official Spokesperson).

Sunday, December 30, 2018.

MAJOR ONGOING AND COMPLETED PROJECTS BY THE BUHARI ADMINISTRATION, ACROSS NIGERIA, ARRANGED BY GEOPOLITICAL ZONE.

SOUTH EAST:
1. Rehabilitation of Sections 1 to 4 of the Enugu–Port Harcourt Expressway (Sukuk Bond) (ongoing)
2. Rehabilitation of Amansea–Enugu Border section of Onitsha-Enugu Expressway (Sukuk Bond) (ongoing)
3. Rehabilitation of 18km critical stretch of Onitsha–Awka Road (ongoing)
4. Construction of Second Niger Bridge: Completed design of the Approach Roads from Onitsha and Asaba; Award of Main Construction Contract to Julius Berger; and funding of the project by the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, PIDF. In August 2018 PIDF paid 33 billion Naira (US$90 million) to Julius Berger for the Second Niger Bridge project. (ongoing)
5. Rehabilitation of Arochukwu–Ohafia–Bende Road (ongoing)
6. Ariaria Market Electrification Project (The Federal Government is implementing its Energizing Economies Programme, which will bring stable and reliable electricity to all the 37,000 shops in Ariaria Market, by providing the Market with a gas-powered IPP) (ongoing)
7. Federal Government’s Energizing Education Programme is being implemented in Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi; and Nnamdi Azikwe University – Awka Campus, Anambra. The Programme will provide these Universities with an Independent Power Plant, as well as upgrade existing distribution infrastructure, and also provide street-lighting.
8. Completed Ikot Ekpene - Alaoji - Ugwuaji Switching Station and Transmission Line
9. Construction of Modern Medical Diagnostic Centre at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia (FMCU) (ongoing)

10. Completed Nnamdi Azikiwe Mausoleum (contract originally awarded in 1996, abandoned at various times, Buhari Administration revived the project in 2016, and completed it in 2018).
11. Enyimba City Special Economic Zone: Definitive Agreements signed between Federal Government, Abia State Government and Enyimba City Development Company Limited on December 7, 2018 (ongoing)
12. Presidential Fertilizer Initiative – has led to the revival of the Ebonyi State Fertiliser and Chemical Company Limited (EFCCL), creating jobs and boosting the supply of fertilizer in the Southeast.
13. Social Investment Programme: 68,000 N-Power Beneficiaries across the 5 States of the South East; the School Feeding Programme has kicked off in all 5 States of the Southeast.
14. Pensions paid to Retired War-Affected (Ex-Biafran) Police: In 2017, the Buhari Administration paid 500 million Naira to clear pensions arrears that had not been paid since their presidential pardon in 2000

SOUTH WEST:
1. Rehabilitation and Expansion of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway: The project is now being funded by the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) established by President Buhari in 2018 to fund critical infrastructure projects. (ongoing)
2. Rehabilitation of outstanding sections of Sagamu-Ore Expressway (ongoing)
3. Construction of 158km Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail, with 10 Stations: Apapa, Ebute Metta, Agege, Agbado, Kajola, Papalanto, Abeokuta, Olodo, Omi-Adio and Ibadan. (ongoing)
4. Reconstruction of Apapa - TinCan - Mile 2 - Oshodi- Oworonshoki Expressway (commenced November 2018): This is the first full reconstruction of the Road since it was first constructed in the 1970s.
5. Dualisation of Oyo-Ogbomosho road (funded by the N100 billion Sukuk Bond issued by the Federal Government in 2017) (ongoing)
6. Rehabilitation of Lagos-Otta-Abeokuta Road (ongoing)
7. Rehabilitation of Ikorodu-Sagamu Road (ongoing)
8. Construction of US$10 million Cancer Treatment Center at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) (ongoing)
9. A $21 million project funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) — will stabilize power supply to more than 200,000 people in and around Apapa in Lagos State. The contract was signed between the Japanese and Nigerian Governments in November 2018.
10. Energizing Economies Programme – ongoing Electrification of Sura Shopping Complex (1,000 shops), Shomolu Printing Community (4,000 shops), Gbagi Market, Oyo (7,872 shops), Ita-Osun Market, Ogun (2,814 shops), Nnamdi Azikiwe Market, Lagos (3,091 shops), Balogun Market, Lagos (1,662 shops), Iponri Market, Lagos (1,305 shops), UMBC, Oyo (700 shops), Isikan Market, Ondo (277 shops), Bariga Market, Lagos (390 shops), Erinwe, Ogun (1,280 fish ponds)
11. Social Investment Programme: 96,000 N-Power Beneficiaries across the six States of the Southwest. School Feeding currently ongoing in 4 States of the Southwest: Oyo, Ogun, Ondo and Osun.

SOUTH SOUTH:
1. Afam Fast Power Project: Construction of US$186 million, 240MW expansion for the existing Afam Power Plant (commenced in 2016, almost completed)
2. Dualisation of Yenegwe Road Junction-Kolo-Otuoke-Bayelsa Palm (Sukuk Bond) (ongoing)
3. Rehabilitation of Sections 1 to 4 of the Enugu – Port Harcourt Expressway (ongoing)
4. Construction of 120 billion Naira Bonny-Bodo Road in Rivers State,jointly funded by the Federal Government and the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas Company Limited (NLNG) (ongoing)
5. Completed new Port Harcourt International Airport Terminal
6. Construction of East-West Road (ongoing)
7. Completed the 60km Alesi–Ugep Road in Cross River State; contract awarded for 72km section from Odukpani Junction to Ugep.
8. Rehabilitation of Calabar–Itu–Odukpani Road that links Akwa-Ibom to Cross River (ongoing)
9. Niger Delta New Vision (Federal Maritime University in Delta State licensed by NUC and commenced academic activities in 2018; Modular Refineries in Delta, Rivers and Akwa Ibom States; Ogoni Clean Up in Rivers – ongoing)
10. Financial Close for Azura Power Plant in Edo State: The necessary Federal Government approvals for this US$900 million private sector investment were given by President Buhari, paving the way for financial close in December 2015, and the commencement of construction in January 2016. The 459MW project was completed in May 2018, seven months ahead of schedule.
11. Water Projects:
a. Completed Ogwashi-Uku Dam, Delta State;
b. Completed Ekeremor Water Supply Project, Edo State;
c. Completed Northern Ishan Regional Water Supply Project, serving Ugboha and Uromi communities of Edo State;
d. Completed Rehabilitation of Ojirami Dam Water Supply Project, Edo State;
e. Completed Central Ogbia Regional Water Project in Bayelsa State.
12. Social Investment Programme: 85,000 N-Power Beneficiaries in the South South; School Feeding has kicked off in 3 of the six States: Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Delta.

NORTH CENTRAL:
1. Construction of Oju/Loko–Oweto bridge over River Benue to link Loko (Nasarawa state) and Oweto (Benue state) along route F2384 (almost completed)
2. Dualisation of Abuja–Abaji–Lokoja Road section I (International Airport link road junction–Sheda Village) (ongoing)

3. Dualisation of Suleja–Minna Road in Niger State Phase II (ongoing)

4. Dualisation of Abuja–Abaji–Lokoja Road: Section IV Koton Karfe–Lokoja in Kogi State (ongoing)

5. Dualisation of Lokoja-Benin Road: Obajana–Okene in Kogi State (ongoing)
6. Rehabilitation of Enugu–Makurdi Road: Otukpa-Otukpo Section completed, work ongoing on Otukpa-Enugu/Benue Border, and on Otukpo-Aliade section.
7. Construction of Otukpo-Oweto Road (almost completed)
8. Completed construction of 93km Ilorin-Jebba Road, (completed in 2018)
9. Dualisation of Abuja–Keffi–Lafia–Makurdi Road (ongoing)
10. Rehabilitation of Suleja-Minna Road (ongoing)
11. Construction of Nigeria’s Central Rail Line (Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri Standard Gauge Line), spanning Kogi, Edo and Delta States. Tracks and Communications systems completed, Station Construction ongoing.
12. Completed rehabilitation of the Abuja International Airport Runway, and construction of new Abuja International Airport Terminal.
13. Completed the abandoned Bill Clinton Drive Interchange Bridgealong the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Road (Airport Road), in the FCT.
14. Construction of Apo–Wasa–Karshi Dual Carriageway, part of the Outer Southern Expressway (OSEX) in the FCT (ongoing)
15. Construction of the Inner Southern Expressway (Goodluck Jonathan Way) in the FCT (ongoing – some sections have been completed and opened in the last three years).
16. Completed Mangu Regional Water Supply Scheme, in Plateau State

17. Completed Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi Water Supply Project, Benue State
18. Construction of 30MW Gurara Power Plant, Niger State (ongoing)

19. Construction of 700MW Zungeru Hydro Power Plant, Niger State (ongoing; completion target of 2020)

20. Transmission Grid (ongoing):

a. A $12.4 million project funded by the Japanese Government for the upgrading (installation of power capacitor banks) of two Transmission Sub-Stations, in Apo, FCT and Keffi, Nasarawa, respectively, to stabilize power supply to 7,000 households. The project commenced in 2016 and was completed in 2018.
b. 150MVA 330/132//33KV Power Transformers at Kanji (Fakun), Niger State, added capacity 120MW (2016)
c. 2x60MVA 132/33KV Power Transformer at Lokoja, Kogi State, added capacity 96MW (2016)
d. 1460MVA 132/33KV Power Transformers at Kontagora, Niger State, added capacity 48MW 92016)
e. 60MVA 132/33KV Power Transformers at Okene, Kogi State, added capacity 48MW (2016)
f. 2x40MVA 132/33KV Power Transformer at Kainji (Dogon Gari), Niger State, added capacity 64MW (2016)
g. 2x60MVA 132/33KV Power Transformer at Kukuaba, FCT Abuja, added capacity 96MW (2017)
h. 60MVA Transformer in Karu Substation, FCT

21. Energizing Education Programme, an initiative of the FGN to provide sustainable and clean power supply to Federal Universities and University Teaching Hospitals across Nigeria, is being implemented in the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Benue

22. Social Investment Programme:
a. 98,700 N-Power Beneficiaries across the seven States of the North Central.
b. School Feeding currently ongoing in 3 States of the North Central: Benue, Niger and Plateau

NORTH EAST:
1. Dualisation of Shuarin-Azare section of Kano–Maiduguri Road linking Kano–Jigawa–Bauchi–Yobe (Section II) (ongoing)
2. Dualisation of Azare–Potiskum section of Kano–Maiduguri Road linking Kano–Jigawa–Bauchi–Yobe–Borno States. (Section III) (ongoing)

3. Dualisation of Potiskum–Damaturu section of Kano–Maiduguri Roadlinking Kano–Jigawa–Bauchi–Yobe–Borno States. (Section IV) (ongoing)

4. Dualisation of Damaturu–Maiduguri section of Kano–Maiduguri Road linking Kano–Jigawa–Bauchi–Yobe–Borno States. (Section V) (ongoing)

5. Reconstruction of Gombe-Numan-Yola Road, ongoing (Gombe-Kaltungo section completed)

6. Reconstruction of 122km Mayo Belwa-Jada-Ganye-Toungo Road,commenced in 2018

7. Construction of 40MW Kashimbila Dam & Hydro Power Plant, Taraba State (Dam and Power Plant completed; construction of transmission infrastructure to connect the plant to the national grid ongoing)

8. Construction of 29MW Dadin Kowa Hydro Power Plant, Gombe State (ongoing)

9. Completed Takum Water Supply Project, Taraba State

10. Construction of 3,050MW Mambilla Power Plant, Taraba State ($5.8 billion EPC contract awarded and signed in 2017; negotiations for the financing by the China Exim Bank ongoing)

11. Energizing Education Programme, an initiative of the FGN to provide sustainable and clean power supply to Federal Universities and University Teaching Hospitals across Nigeria, is being implemented in the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University – Gubi Campus, Bauchi

12. Transmission Infrastructure (ongoing):

a. 330/132KV Molai Transmission Substation in Maiduguri completed and energized in 2018
b. 330/132KV Damaturu Transmission Substation in Yobe State completed and energized in 2018
c. 60MVA 132/33KV Power Transformers at Bauchi, Bauchi State, added capacity 48MW (2017)
d. 40MVA Mobile Substation at Damboa, Borno State, added capacity 32MW (2017)
e. 28/40MVA Mobile Substation at Mayo Belwa, Adamawa State, added capacity 22.4/32MW (2017)
f. 30/40MVA Mobile Substation at Gombe, Gombe State, added capacity 24MW (2017)

13. Social Investment Programme:
a. 74,000 N-Power Beneficiaries across the six States of the North East.
b. School Feeding currently ongoing in all 6 States of the North East: Bauchi, Taraba, Borno, Gombe, Yobe and Adamawa


NORTH WEST:

1. Construction of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Highway. The project is being funded by the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), established by President Buhari in 2018 to fund critical infrastructure projects. (ongoing)
2. Dualisation of Kano–Wudil–Shuari section of Kano–Maiduguri Roadlinking Kano–Jigawa–Bauchi–Yobe–Borno States. (Section I) (ongoing)
3. Dualisation of Kano–Katsina Road Phase I, Kano Town (Dawanau roundabout to Katsina border in Kano) (ongoing)
4. Completed 135km Sokoto–Tambuwal–Jega Road.
5. Construction of Kano Western Bypass, as an extension of dualisation of Kano–Maiduguri Road Section I (ongoing)
6. Construction of Kaduna Eastern Bypass, Kaduna (ongoing)
7. Construction of Modern Medical Diagnostic Centre at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Kano (ongoing)
8. Completed Sabke Water Supply Project, Katsina State
9. Completed Shagari Irrigation Project, Sokoto State
10. Completed Galma Dam, Kaduna State.
11. Energizing Education Programme, an initiative of the FGN to provide sustainable and clean power supply to Federal Universities and University Teaching Hospitals across Nigeria, is being implemented in the Bayero University–New Campus, Kano; and the Usmanu Danfodiyo University–Main Campus, Sokoto
12. Transmission Infrastructure (completed):
a. 60MVA Transformer in Dan Agundi Substation, Kano
b. 2X60MVA Transformer in Kakuri Substation, Kaduna
c. 60MVA Transformer in Katsina Substation
d. 40MVA Mobile Substation at Zaria, Kaduna State, added capacity 32MW (2017)
e. 2x40MVA 132/33KV Power Transformer at Daura, Katsina State, added capacity 64MW (2017)
f. 60MVA 132/33KV Power Transformers at Hadejia, Jigawa State, added capacity 48MW (2017)
g. 60MVA 132/33KV Power Transformers at Funtua, Katsina State, added capacity 48MW (2017)
h. 60MVA 132/33KV Power Transformers at Sokoto, Sokoto State, added capacity 48MW (2016)
13. Social Investment Programme:
c. 95,900 N-Power Beneficiaries across the seven States of the North West.
d. School Feeding currently ongoing in 5 States of the North West:Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Zamfara and Sokoto
14. Sabon Gari and Kantin Kwari Market Electrification Projects: The Federal Government is implementing its Energizing Economies Programme, which will bring stable and reliable electricity to the 13,000 shops in Sabon Gari Market, and 7,700 shops in Kantin Kwari Market, both in Kano.
15. Construction of 215MW Kaduna Power Plant, Kaduna (ongoing)

16. Construction of 10MW Katsina Wind Power Plant, Katsina: (As of Q1 2018, 15 of the 37 turbines had been installed and put to use, producing about 4MW)