President Muhammadu Buhari in his democracy day address on Saturday, June 12, has reiterated his stand to make Nigeria work despite different challenges confronting the Nation.
Here is the president’s full speech:
Fellow Nigerians,
I join you all today to commemorate and celebrate our Democracy Day. It is a celebration of freedom and a victory for one people, one country and one Nigeria.
As with all democracies we will always be
going through improvement processes in our desire to reach the goal of a mature
democracy, a strong, evolved and integrated nation state to be reckoned with
globally.
In the last two years we have witnessed and
overcome a good number of testy challenges that would have destroyed other
nations especially relating to our collective security.
The indefatigable CAN DO Spirit of the
Nigerian has sustained us and would keep pushing us to put these challenges
behind us.
Unfortunately some of these challenges came
in the shape of violent outrages leading to the loss of lives of many of our
dear compatriots and the destruction of some of our infrastructure, including
those devoted to improving our democratic processes.
Once again, I want to render my sincere and
heart-felt condolences to the families and friends of our gallant service men
and women who lost their lives in the line of duty and as a sacrifice to keep
Nigeria safe.
I extend the same condolence to the
families and friends of our country men, women and children who were
unfortunate victims of such senseless arsons, kidnappings and murders.
I also share the pains of families and
direct victims of ransom-seeking, kidnapped victims who went through
unimaginable trauma in the course of their forced imprisonment.
Let me assure my fellow citizens that every
incident, however minor gives me great worry and concern and I immediately
order security agencies to swiftly but safely rescue victims and bring
perpetrators to justice.
Fellow Nigerians,
When you elected me as your President in 2015, you did so knowing that I will put an end to the growing insecurity, especially the insurgency in the North East, but the unintended consequences of our scattering them in the North East pushed them further in-country which is what we are now facing and dealing with.
We will, by the Grace of God put an end to
these challenges too.
Unfortunately, like in most conflict
situations, some Nigerian criminals are taking undue advantage of a difficult
situation and profiteering there from with the misguided belief that adherence
to the democratic norms handicaps this Administration from frontally and
decisively tackling them.
We are already addressing these obstacles
and we will soon bring some of these culprits to justice.
We are, at the same time addressing the
twin underlying drivers of insecurity namely poverty and youth
unemployment.
Interventions led by Government and the
Central Bank of Nigeria driving economic growth over the past 6 years are
targeted mostly to the agricultural, services, infrastructure, power and health
care sectors of the economy.
In the Agricultural sector, for instance,
the Anchor Borrowers Programme resulted in sharp decline in the nation’s major
food import bill from $2.23billion in 2014 to US$0.59billion by the end of
2018.
Rice import bill alone dropped from $1
billion to $18.5 million annually.
This initiative supported local production
of rice, maize, cotton and cassava. Government financed 2.5 million
small-holder farmers cultivating about 3.2 million hectares of farmland all
over the country and created 10 million direct and indirect jobs.
Several other initiatives, namely Agric Business/Small
and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme, the Non-oil Export stimulation
Facility, the Targeted Credit Facilities operated across the 774 Local
Governments.
In the manufacturing sector the CBN – BOI
N200 billion facility financed the establishment and operations of 60 new
industrial hubs across the country, creating an estimated 890,000 direct and
indirect jobs.
The CBN’s N50 billion Textile Sector
intervention Facility increased capacity utilization of ginneries from 30% to
nearly 90%.
The Economic Sustainability Plan – our
rebound plan for the COVID-19 pandemic developed in 2020 is currently being
executed. The plan is primarily focused on the non-oil sector, which has
recorded phenomenal growth contributing over 90% to the GDP growth in Q1
2021.
Though marginal we have recorded GDP growth
over two quarters; Q2 2020 and Q1 2021. This is evidence of a successful
execution of the ESP by the Federal Government.
My vision of pulling 100 million poor
Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years has been put into action and can be seen
in the National Social Investment Programme, a first in Africa and one of the
largest in the world where over 32.6m beneficiaries are taking part. We now
have a National Social register of poor and vulnerable households, identified
across 708 local government areas, 8,723 wards and 86,610 communities in the 36
States and the FCT.
Our conditional cash transfer program has
benefited over 1.6 million poor and vulnerable households comprising more than
8 million individuals. This provides a monthly stipend of N10,000 per
household.
I have also recently approved the National
Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy Plan that augments existing plans to
further reduce poverty in Nigeria.
As at the end of 2020, the Development Bank
of Nigeria had disbursed 324 billion Naira in loans to more than 136,000 MSMEs,
through 40 participating Financial Institutions. I am to note that 57% of these
beneficiaries are women while 27% are the youth.
We are able to do all these and still
accelerate our infrastructure development through sensible and transparent
borrowing, improved capital inflow, improving and increasing revenue through
capturing more tax bases and prudent management of investment proceeds in the
Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Fellow Nigerians,
Our infrastructure revolution continues
with key projects attaining critical milestones under the Presidential
Infrastructure Development Fund; The Second Niger Bridge, The Lagos- Ibadan
Expressway and the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway.
I have also approved the establishment of
Infraco Plc, a world-class infrastructure development vehicle wholly focused on
Nigeria with a capital structure of N15 trillion.
The rail system is not left out as the
Itakpe-Warri standard gauge rail was completed and commissioned 33 years after
construction began. The Lagos-Ibadan double track railway line which I have
just commissioned has commenced operations.
We are focused on ensuring that our
infrastructure drive is key to economic growth and one that can be felt by
every Nigerian. Building critical infrastructure in our ports is also opening
up opportunities for the Nigerian economy.
My approval for 4 new seaports using a
Public-Private-Partnership approach is hinged on growing the Nigerian economy.
These four sea ports; Lekki Deep Sea Port, Bonny Deep Sea Port, Ibom Deep Sea
Port and Warri Deep Sea port will create massive job opportunities and foreign
investment inflows.
We have worked at deepening our Eastern
ports leading to success like having three container ships berth at Calabar
port, a first in 11 years. Similarly, on October 30 2019, an LPG tanker
operated by NLNG berthed in Port Harcourt, the first time an LPG ship is
berthing at any of the Eastern Ports.
As we invest in these new assets, we have
also made strides in ensuring that they are secured and protected. In this
regard I am also pleased to note the launch of the NIMASA Deep Blue project –
which is an Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection
Infrastructure that I recently commissioned. This initiative is designed to add
to the layer of security we have to safeguard our maritime sector.
Dear Nigerians,
I will be the first to admit that in spite of our efforts and achievements which are there for all to see, there is still much more to be done and we are doing our best in the face of scarce resources and galloping population growth rate that consistently outstrips our capacity to provide jobs for our populace. Our over-all economic target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years is our goal notwithstanding COVID-19.
In the last two years we lifted 10.5
million people out of poverty – farmers, small-scale traders, artisans, market
women and the like.
I am very convinced that this 100 million
target can be met and this informed the development of a National poverty
Reduction with Growth Strategy. The specific details of this accelerated
strategy will be unveiled shortly.
In the last one year, Nigeria and the whole
world faced COVID-19 for which no one was fully prepared.
Our response to the pandemic involved
making hard choices in balancing livelihoods and public health concerns.
You are all living witnesses to how successful this has been due to a number of
pro-active measures put in place. Our response to COVID-19 is globally
acclaimed.
We were able to ensure that the various
lockdown measures did not impact too negatively on the ability of ordinary
Nigerians to continue sustaining their livelihoods.
During the pandemic, we disbursed N5,000 to
1 million Nigerians using a Rapid Response Register and advanced N20,000 to
750,000 beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer Progamme and provided
1.37 million Nigerians with palliatives from CACOVID.
At the same time the Federal Government
released 109,000 metric tonnes of food reserve stocks and 70,000 metric tonnes
of grains to the poor and vulnerable in all 36 states of the federation.
In addition, Government reduced interest
rates from 9% to 5% for struggling businesses and extended credit facilities to
548,345 beneficiaries.
Fellow Nigerians,
When this administration decided to change our Democracy Day from 29th May to June 12th in my first tenure, it was not only to honour the sacrifices of the men and women of our country who fought for the return to democracy but also to demonstrate our commitment to satisfy the aspirations of the people and creating an environment for democracy to be an accepted way of life.
As your President, I remain committed to
providing an enabling environment for a free, fair and credible electoral
system under my tenure.
However, you need to play your part by
getting involved at any level you can supporting a democratic system that works
for all and not for a section or a select few and demand accountability from
your elected leaders.
My commitment to bequeathing a sustainable
democratic culture remains resolute, my pursuit of a fair society remains
unshaken and my desire to see that Nigeria remains a country for each and every
one of us has never been stronger.
In responding to the challenges that this
period imposes on us, Government also recognises the need to acknowledge
notions of marginalisation and agitations for constitutional amendments among
various segments of our population.
While this government is not averse to
constitutional reform as part of our nation building process, everyone must
understand that the primary responsibility for constitutional amendments lies
with the National Assembly.
This body which, as I said, is the arm of
government responsible for constitutional changes has concluded the preliminary
stages of amending and improving our constitution in a way that the majority of
Nigerians will be happy with.
Government is, however, willing to play a
critical role in the constitutional amendment process without usurping the
powers of the National Assembly in this regard.
As a nation we have come very far from
where we started and we are getting incrementally closer to where we ought to
be.
Overcoming the present challenges is but
one of a necessary process that we have to undergo as a nation so that we can
come out stronger. The day I joined the Nigerian Army I was prepared to
lay down my life for Nigeria.
As your President I remain ever committed
to upholding and defending Nigeria’s Corporate existence.
In adhering to the Fundamental Objectives
and Directive Principles of State Policy notably section 14(2)(b) I shall do
all within my power to ensure that the Security and welfare of the people
remain the primary purpose of government.
I have, throughout my tenure, provided the
security agencies with all they require relative to available resources
and will be providing more as the dynamics unfold to put an end to our security
problems.
My strong belief in the Nigerian spirit
gives me comfort that we are facing these challenges with renewed commitment to
keep our country one.
I thank you for your patience and attention
and more importantly your resolve to join hands in making Nigeria the country
of our dream.
Happy Democracy Day! God Bless us All, God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Here is the president’s full speech:
Fellow Nigerians,
I join you all today to commemorate
and celebrate our Democracy Day. It is a celebration of freedom and a
victory for one people, one country and one Nigeria.
As with all democracies we will always be
going through improvement processes in our desire to reach the goal of a mature
democracy, a strong, evolved and integrated nation state to be reckoned with
globally.
In the last two years we have witnessed and
overcome a good number of testy challenges that would have destroyed other
nations especially relating to our collective security.
The indefatigable CAN DO Spirit of the
Nigerian has sustained us and would keep pushing us to put these challenges
behind us.
Unfortunately some of these challenges came
in the shape of violent outrages leading to the loss of lives of many of our
dear compatriots and the destruction of some of our infrastructure, including
those devoted to improving our democratic processes.
Once again, I want to render my sincere and
heart-felt condolences to the families and friends of our gallant service men
and women who lost their lives in the line of duty and as a sacrifice to keep
Nigeria safe.
I extend the same condolence to the
families and friends of our country men, women and children who were
unfortunate victims of such senseless arsons, kidnappings and murders.
I also share the pains of families and
direct victims of ransom-seeking, kidnapped victims who went through
unimaginable trauma in the course of their forced imprisonment.
Let me assure my fellow citizens that every
incident, however minor gives me great worry and concern and I immediately
order security agencies to swiftly but safely rescue victims and bring
perpetrators to justice.
Fellow Nigerians,
When you elected me as your President in
2015, you did so knowing that I will put an end to the growing insecurity,
especially the insurgency in the North East, but the unintended consequences of
our scattering them in the North East pushed them further in-country which is
what we are now facing and dealing with.
We will, by the Grace of God put an end to
these challenges too.
Unfortunately, like in most conflict
situations, some Nigerian criminals are taking undue advantage of a difficult
situation and profiteering there from with the misguided belief that adherence
to the democratic norms handicaps this Administration from frontally and
decisively tackling them.
We are already addressing these obstacles
and we will soon bring some of these culprits to justice.
We are, at the same time addressing the
twin underlying drivers of insecurity namely poverty and youth
unemployment.
Interventions led by Government and the
Central Bank of Nigeria driving economic growth over the past 6 years are
targeted mostly to the agricultural, services, infrastructure, power and health
care sectors of the economy.
In the Agricultural sector, for instance,
the Anchor Borrowers Programme resulted in sharp decline in the nation’s major
food import bill from $2.23billion in 2014 to US$0.59billion by the end of
2018.
Rice import bill alone dropped from $1
billion to $18.5 million annually.
This initiative supported local production
of rice, maize, cotton and cassava. Government financed 2.5 million
small-holder farmers cultivating about 3.2 million hectares of farmland all
over the country and created 10 million direct and indirect jobs.
Several other initiatives, namely Agric Business/Small
and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme, the Non-oil Export stimulation
Facility, the Targeted Credit Facilities operated across the 774 Local
Governments.
In the manufacturing sector the CBN – BOI
N200 billion facility financed the establishment and operations of 60 new
industrial hubs across the country, creating an estimated 890,000 direct and
indirect jobs.
The CBN’s N50 billion Textile Sector
intervention Facility increased capacity utilization of ginneries from 30% to
nearly 90%.
The Economic Sustainability Plan – our
rebound plan for the COVID-19 pandemic developed in 2020 is currently being
executed. The plan is primarily focused on the non-oil sector, which has
recorded phenomenal growth contributing over 90% to the GDP growth in Q1
2021.
Though marginal we have recorded GDP growth
over two quarters; Q2 2020 and Q1 2021. This is evidence of a successful
execution of the ESP by the Federal Government.
My vision of pulling 100 million poor
Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years has been put into action and can be seen
in the National Social Investment Programme, a first in Africa and one of the
largest in the world where over 32.6m beneficiaries are taking part. We now
have a National Social register of poor and vulnerable households, identified
across 708 local government areas, 8,723 wards and 86,610 communities in the 36
States and the FCT.
Our conditional cash transfer program has
benefited over 1.6 million poor and vulnerable households comprising more than
8 million individuals. This provides a monthly stipend of N10,000 per
household.
I have also recently approved the National
Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy Plan that augments existing plans to
further reduce poverty in Nigeria.
As at the end of 2020, the Development Bank
of Nigeria had disbursed 324 billion Naira in loans to more than 136,000 MSMEs,
through 40 participating Financial Institutions. I am to note that 57% of these
beneficiaries are women while 27% are the youth.
We are able to do all these and still
accelerate our infrastructure development through sensible and transparent
borrowing, improved capital inflow, improving and increasing revenue through
capturing more tax bases and prudent management of investment proceeds in the
Sovereign Wealth Fund.
Fellow Nigerians,
Our infrastructure revolution continues
with key projects attaining critical milestones under the Presidential
Infrastructure Development Fund; The Second Niger Bridge, The Lagos- Ibadan
Expressway and the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway.
I have also approved the establishment of
Infraco Plc, a world-class infrastructure development vehicle wholly focused on
Nigeria with a capital structure of N15 trillion.
The rail system is not left out as the
Itakpe-Warri standard gauge rail was completed and commissioned 33 years after
construction began. The Lagos-Ibadan double track railway line which I have
just commissioned has commenced operations.
We are focused on ensuring that our
infrastructure drive is key to economic growth and one that can be felt by
every Nigerian. Building critical infrastructure in our ports is also opening
up opportunities for the Nigerian economy.
My approval for 4 new seaports using a
Public-Private-Partnership approach is hinged on growing the Nigerian economy.
These four sea ports; Lekki Deep Sea Port, Bonny Deep Sea Port, Ibom Deep Sea
Port and Warri Deep Sea port will create massive job opportunities and foreign
investment inflows.
We have worked at deepening our Eastern
ports leading to success like having three container ships berth at Calabar
port, a first in 11 years. Similarly, on October 30 2019, an LPG tanker
operated by NLNG berthed in Port Harcourt, the first time an LPG ship is
berthing at any of the Eastern Ports.
As we invest in these new assets, we have
also made strides in ensuring that they are secured and protected. In this
regard I am also pleased to note the launch of the NIMASA Deep Blue project –
which is an Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection
Infrastructure that I recently commissioned. This initiative is designed to add
to the layer of security we have to safeguard our maritime sector.
Dear Nigerians,
I will be the first to admit that in spite
of our efforts and achievements which are there for all to see, there is still
much more to be done and we are doing our best in the face of scarce resources
and galloping population growth rate that consistently outstrips our capacity
to provide jobs for our populace. Our over-all economic target of lifting 100
million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years is our goal notwithstanding
COVID-19.
In the last two years we lifted 10.5
million people out of poverty – farmers, small-scale traders, artisans, market
women and the like.
I am very convinced that this 100 million
target can be met and this informed the development of a National poverty
Reduction with Growth Strategy. The specific details of this accelerated
strategy will be unveiled shortly.
In the last one year, Nigeria and the whole
world faced COVID-19 for which no one was fully prepared.
Our response to the pandemic involved
making hard choices in balancing livelihoods and public health concerns.
You are all living witnesses to how successful this has been due to a number of
pro-active measures put in place. Our response to COVID-19 is globally
acclaimed.
We were able to ensure that the various
lockdown measures did not impact too negatively on the ability of ordinary
Nigerians to continue sustaining their livelihoods.
During the pandemic, we disbursed N5,000 to
1 million Nigerians using a Rapid Response Register and advanced N20,000 to
750,000 beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer Progamme and provided
1.37 million Nigerians with palliatives from CACOVID.
At the same time the Federal Government
released 109,000 metric tonnes of food reserve stocks and 70,000 metric tonnes
of grains to the poor and vulnerable in all 36 states of the federation.
In addition, Government reduced interest
rates from 9% to 5% for struggling businesses and extended credit facilities to
548,345 beneficiaries.
Fellow Nigerians,
When this administration decided to change
our Democracy Day from 29th May to June 12th in my first tenure, it was not
only to honour the sacrifices of the men and women of our country who fought
for the return to democracy but also to demonstrate our commitment to satisfy
the aspirations of the people and creating an environment for democracy to be
an accepted way of life.
As your President, I remain committed to
providing an enabling environment for a free, fair and credible electoral
system under my tenure.
However, you need to play your part by
getting involved at any level you can supporting a democratic system that works
for all and not for a section or a select few and demand accountability from
your elected leaders.
My commitment to bequeathing a sustainable
democratic culture remains resolute, my pursuit of a fair society remains
unshaken and my desire to see that Nigeria remains a country for each and every
one of us has never been stronger.
In responding to the challenges that this
period imposes on us, Government also recognises the need to acknowledge
notions of marginalisation and agitations for constitutional amendments among
various segments of our population.
While this government is not averse to
constitutional reform as part of our nation building process, everyone must
understand that the primary responsibility for constitutional amendments lies
with the National Assembly.
This body which, as I said, is the arm of
government responsible for constitutional changes has concluded the preliminary
stages of amending and improving our constitution in a way that the majority of
Nigerians will be happy with.
Government is, however, willing to play a
critical role in the constitutional amendment process without usurping the
powers of the National Assembly in this regard.
As a nation we have come very far from
where we started and we are getting incrementally closer to where we ought to
be.
Overcoming the present challenges is but
one of a necessary process that we have to undergo as a nation so that we can
come out stronger. The day I joined the Nigerian Army I was prepared to
lay down my life for Nigeria.
As your President I remain ever committed
to upholding and defending Nigeria’s Corporate existence.
In adhering to the Fundamental Objectives
and Directive Principles of State Policy notably section 14(2)(b) I shall do
all within my power to ensure that the Security and welfare of the people
remain the primary purpose of government.
I have, throughout my tenure, provided the
security agencies with all they require relative to available resources
and will be providing more as the dynamics unfold to put an end to our security
problems.
My strong belief in the Nigerian spirit
gives me comfort that we are facing these challenges with renewed commitment to
keep our country one.
I thank you for your patience and attention
and more importantly your resolve to join hands in making Nigeria the country
of our dream.
Happy Democracy Day! God Bless us
All, God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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