APC Marks Two Years of Governance in Nigeria

The federal Government of Nigeria has scored herself high marks for the two years they have spent so far in governing Nigeria.

In the Democracy day speech, delivered by the Acting President on behalf of the President Muhammad Buhari, Proffesor Osinbajo’s main trust of the speech focused on the three major areas of priority which he said were Security,  Corruption and Economy.

He went on to list out the catalogue of successes already recorded for each of the priority areas. According to the Acting President, Boko Haram insurgencies has been beaten back while success is being made in the release of the Chibok Girls and in the process, relation with Nigerian neighbors have been improved.

The Acting President said the fight against corruption is ongoing even though it is being bedeviled by slow judicial system, inadequate capabilities of the Prosecuting Team, and the fact that corruption itself is fighting back with a store of tremendous resources. But he assured that the Prosecuting Team is being re-equipped while leakages are being blocked using the Treasury Single Account and the whistle Blower policies.

On the issue of economy, the Acting President acknowledged the hardship being experienced by the citizen but indicated that measures are being put in place to arrest the situation through the government Economic Agenda packaged in the 2017 budget and assured that “…….. 2017 -would be the year in which you would begin to see tangible benefits of all the planning and preparation work …”.

He went further to catalogue the fallout of the Government Economic policies as follows:
1. Home Grown School Feeding and the N-Power under the social investment program
2. Micro credit to a million artisans, traders and market men and women
3. Road and power projects as well as rail projects
4. The Presidential Fertilizer Initiative which has resulted in the revitalization of 11 blending plants across the country,
5. The Anchor Borrowers Programme, launched in 2015 to support  rice and wheat farmers for agricultural self-sufficiency
6. Ease of Doing Business reforms
7. Executive Orders to facilitate government approvals, support procurement of locally made goods, and improve fiscal responsibility
8.  N701 billion Naira Payment Assurance Scheme that will resolve the financing bottlenecks that have until now constrained the operations of  gas suppliers and generation companies.
Clearly the main performance of the government is  anchored on the 2017 budget which is a build up on the 2016 budget.

The Acting President, who is also looking ahead for the next two years, went further. “…The critical points that we must address fully in the next two years are : Agriculture and food security, Energy, (power and Petroleum,) Industrialization and Transport infrastructure. Every step of the way we will be working with the private sector, giving them the necessary incentives and creating an environment to invest and do business”

While he looked forward to the Nigeria of their dream, he acknowledged that it may take some time but that the country would get there as long as they would not seek temporary gain over long term benefits.

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