The Nation Newspaper

Tag: BUHARI

  • Good-bye Awo, welcome Buhari

    Good-bye Awo, welcome Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari and the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, are two of a kind. They are of the same political hue. Gboyega Amoboye paints a picture of their political life 

    The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and President Muhammadu Buhari might have lived at different times but like identical twins, possess a lot in common-dynamism, pragmatism, integrity, self- discipline, vision and passion to make the country work for all her citizens. The impeccable past of these tested leaders, has proved that the bane of the country’s slow development since independence has been lack of purposeful leadership.

    Unlike the reluctant leaders who had been imposed on us, Awolowo and Buhari, both armed with impeccable records of performances, the former as Premier of the old Western Region as well as Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council in the regime of Gen. Yakubu Gowon, and the latter, as a Military Head of State etc. adequately prepared for the office. Three times, were each unsuccessful- Awolowo in 1959, 1979, 1983 and Buhari in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

    Their paths might have crossed each other in one form or the other, that may be the unseen hand of God in their lives in preparation for the task ahead that :”You, Obafemi Awolowo is my Moses and you Muhammadu Buhari, my Joshua for the liberation of your people from the ‘rats and mosquitoes’ of your country”. Or could it be by share coincidence that for the first time since independence both the North and the South-West are in effective political alliance? The Thomas’s may continue to doubt.

    Like the Nostradamus that he was, Awolowo, in a paper delivered in Kano in 1970, had proposed a seven-point agenda which he called national objectives that should be implemented simultaneously in all the states of the federation for the rapid and even development of the country. He explained that revenue allocation formula should be based on the implementation of the seven objectives and if by so doing, put an end to the “endless search for the appropriate allocation formula”. He was speaking on a paper entitled Revenue Allocation Must be based on Even Progress and Needs, delivered in his capacity as the Federal Commissioner of Finance, to the annual conference of state commissioners of finance.

    As if confirming the telepathy between these great national heroes, Buhari has recently unconsciously implemented item seven of the aforementioned Awolowo’s seven- point objectives for national development of 45 years ago and by so doing, been vindicated for “bailing” out states that could not pay workers salaries. The late sage had said under this item, entitled” putting the federal government in sufficient funds to enable it not only to perform its allotted functions but also to come readily to the aid of any state in need argued that…”but perchance any state falls on evil day, it would be the duty of the federal government, acting as an accredited agent of all the states, to come to the aid of such a needy state without delay…”

    Before leaving this topic, one may ask Buhari’s critics where they were when former President Goodluck Jonathan granted some members of the private sector a bail out? For instance, Arik Airline got 600m dollars, Aero -200m dollars, Air Nigeria-225.8m dollars, Chachangi-55m dollars etc. (AMCON) in addition to an attempt to buy aircrafts for them  but for unfavourable public opinion.

    If one of Chief Awolowo’s seven objectives has been considered well enough for implementation, the remaining six which may equally be as good are therefore presented though in abridged form, for consideration by Mr. President. They are-full employment, free education at all levels and free health services for all, modernisation of agriculture and rural development, rapid industrialization of each state and rapid development of system of transportation. Owing to the relevance of Chief Awolowo’s paper to the Nigeria of today, I had at the formation of the All Progressive Congress (APC), dropped a copy of it for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at his office, Freedom House, Victoria Island for possible incorporation into the APC manifesto.

    Discussing full employment, Awolowo called for full exploitation and efficient utilization of minerals resources as well as modernization of agriculture, explaining that the country’s capability for phenomenal growth was tremendous and colossal. He warned that anything short of full employment which could only be provided by exploitation of mineral resources and agriculture would be an admission of failure on the part of Nigerian leaders ” that they are not equal to their admittedly difficult but at the same time inspiring and manageable assignment”. Whenever we talk of merely reducing employment and not stamping it out he said, “The question which I always ask myself is- who are the unfortunate victims we are planning to keep on the unemployment market?”Like Chief Awolowo, bailing out distressed states could be regarded as President Buhari’s demonstration of love for workers too.

    On modernization of agriculture, and industrialization, the sage supporting his argument with characteristic statistics, said to achieve any of the ambitious projection, the country’s agriculture must be modernized and mechanized in a bold and massive manner. “We shall need to invest heavily in tractors, mechanical ploughs and riggers, fertilizers, pest control: irrigation, research into high yielding grains and cattle ranches, fishing trawlers, etc”. Awolowo however cautioned that none of the states could alone afford the level of investment involved without the intervention of the federal government acting in concert simultaneously with all the states.

    As for industrialisation, he argued that a properly developed agriculture in every state would lead to development of agro- allied industries automatically as well as manufacturing industries and consequently, disappearance of uneven location of industries. He however warned that between agriculture and industries, the choice should be agriculture to eradicate unemployment, explaining that while industries if properly managed could provide employment for 220,000 workers in the next 12 years, agriculture would provide employment for six million within five years. Seeing 2015 way back in 1970, Chief Awolowo warned that “if it is the ardent and burning desire of those of us in the vanguard of public life to serve our age and the next generation faithfully, our area of concentration must ipso facto be agriculture.”

    But how could uneducated and unhealthy population be productive? This was the concern of Awolowo as he canvassed as ever, for free education at all levels and free medical services for all arguing that man “is the alpha and omega of production and therefore  indispensable to rapid economic progress, political stability and social harmony.”

    On development of system of transportation, Awolowo said, “while the northern and riverine areas of the country, for social and economic reasons, lag behind in transportation development and should be therefore given a special attention henceforth, the crucial point of convergence for most transportation activities were those adjacent to the ports of Port-Harcourt, Calabar, Sapele, Warri, Escravos, Lagos and Apapa. It follows that from this fact that the development of those roads within the areas of the Mid-West, Eastern, Western and Lagos Region which give access to the ports, is of concern to all of the states in the federation.” Predicting the chaotic situations of the roads being witnessed today, Awolowo warned that “any transportation difficulties in these areas are bound to constitute time- wasting bottle-necks of the worst order.”

    The question may be asked that of what relevance is the vision of 1970 to 2015? The answer may be found in the reality that Nigeria has not been blessed with a visionary and patriotic leader since that Gen. Gowon era of 1970, who could harness the common wealth for the benefit of all her citizens as Awolowo did for his people as the Premier of the Western Region. The metaphysical and psychological relationship between Awolowo and President Muhamadu Buhari has shown that for the country to attain its potentials there is an urgent need for another visionary, competent and honest leader like Awolowo, who Nigerians have found in Buhari.

    Those who could not see yet any difference in electricity supply in the past two months may equally not find the correlation between Awolowo’s economic road map and that of Muhammadu Buhari. The sad news however is that if the projection of 1970 is still relevant in 2015, it means the past 45 years has been that of the locusts and caterpillars due to bad governance. It is therefore not a surprise that Nigerians have unanimously voted for a statesman they could trust to remake the country. Good-bye Awo, welcome Buhari.

  • Buhari, please save souls on Kabba-Okene, Lokoja Roads

    Following the withdrawal of soldiers from the manning of military checkpoints nationwide, the spate of kidnappings has increased in Kogi State on the ever busy Kabba-Okene, Kabba-Lokoja and Okene-Lokoja roads.  Within a period of less than one week, not less than three cases of kidnapping have been reported on the aforementioned roads.

    Without mincing words, the frequency of nefarious activities of the men of the underworld and kidnappers along these roads and in Kogi State in general calls for immediate action on the part of both the Federal and the Kogi State government.

    In addition to the promise of deployment of more policemen to Kogi State by the Inspector-General of Police in order to check the rampant kidnapping saga and bank robbery cases across the state, the state government should look into the possibility of drafting the services of local hunters in the state to complement the efforts of the police in providing adequate security for the lives and properties of the people.

     Considering the strategic positions of these roads, notably the Kabba-Okene -Lokoja ones as  the only link between the Federal Capital, Abuja on one hand and most of the southern states such as Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Edo, including Kwara State and two senatorial districts of West and Central in Kogi State on the other hand, appeal is being made to our security-conscious president, to please reconsider the return of soldiers back to these and other roads in Kogi State to stem the dastardly acts of criminals who have no doubt laid siege to Kogi State and whose activities continue to send jitters down the spines of the people, travellers and commuters who ply these roads.

    • By Odunayo Joseph

    Mopa

    Kogi State.

  • Miners to Buhari: ban importation of solid minerals

    Miners to Buhari: ban importation of solid minerals

    Miners Empowerment Association of Nigeria, President, Mr Sunny Ekozin, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to order the Nigeria Customs Service to stop importation of solid minerals that are available in the country.

    Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, the miners’ boss said this would pave the way for the development of Nigeria’s solid minerals sector by all stakeholders.

    Ekozin noted that “about 66 per cent of the 41 items banned from Forex are essentially solid minerals base, these are items that can easily be sourced locally. If a total ban or prohibitions of these items are not urgently promulgated, it will lead to an increase in the cost of these items locally for consumers and ultimately inflation.”

    Nigeria’s solid minerals sector, he said, is comatose and the change agenda of President Buhari is urgently needed to revamp this sector and re-position it for global competitiveness.

    “I cannot fathom the rationale behind the cabals within this sector that have held this sector captive and have frustrated all successive governments since the regime of President Shehu Shagari, who started Ajaokuta steel company and its subsidiaries after investing about US$7 billion with 90 per cent completion, yet this critical industrialising agent has remained dysfunctional, products that should have been produced from this company for local consumption and for exports have remained frustrated till date,” he said.

    Besides, he said another critical national mining enterprise, the Aluminum Smelter Company, with a capacity of 200,000mt per year, and considered to be the biggest in Africa, has been hijacked by canals.

    “This productive and thriving smelter plant with capacity to meet local raw material needs of our industries was privatised in 1999, since that time till date, this national asset has been hijacked by this same cabal and have rendered it comatose and plunged the nation into an import dependent nation of goods that can be easily produced in Nigeria.”

    Expatiating, Ekozin said, “By simple arithmetic, Nigeria imports ¦ 860 billion annually of solid minerals of the total annual import of ¦ 1.3 trillion. This is scandalous, imagine the jobs that can be created annually from solid minerals with the injection of this huge sum, it is time for our government to put the political will to bear and save the nation from this shameful and systemic destruction of our economy.”

    Nigeria, he said, “must benchmark with other developing countries like Indonesia, who have successfully used policies on export and import to curb job losses to other nations and have galvanised about $18 billion in investment in processing plants to the country’s industrialisation efforts.”

    President Buhari, he said, must demonstrate the much needed political will and stem this tide with his change mantra to create jobs for unemployed youths through strategic policies formation and implementation of our solid minerals endowments.

  • Buhari, Obasanjo meet at Aso Rock

    Buhari, Obasanjo meet at Aso Rock

    President Muhammadu Buhari on friday evening met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    They met behind closed-doors at the President’s official residence.

    Details of discussions at the meeting is unknown as at the time of filing this report.

    But the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, confirmed that the two leaders met at the Aso Rock.

  • Buhari should take Senate dilemma more seriously

    Buhari should take Senate dilemma more seriously

    The pussyfooting over the 8th Senate’s forged Standing Orders 2015 is truly annoying and irritating. Neither the government of President Muhammadu Buhari nor Nigeria’s usually timorous but exploitative political class has given the matter sufficient or sensible consideration. Not only is the matter swaddled in partisan politics, and reduced insensitively to a matter of whom you support, virtually all law enforcement agencies have been tiptoeing around the controversy as if they are wary of being tagged partisan and prejudiced. They seem apprehensive of the obnoxious and repudiated legacy of the Goodluck Jonathan presidency in which national security interest became indistinguishable from private interest. Exasperatingly too, most Nigerians continue to squirm over the matter, perhaps anxious to be adjudged impartial.

    But the Senate is Nigeria’s highest lawmaking body. If the country is to get its moral compass right, and its politics too, the Senate must live and operate above suspicion. There is sadly nothing the 8th Senate has done so far, not even its very first simple act of electing its leaders, that shows it appreciates its overarching role as a lawmaking organ, not to talk of its status as a chief component of national ideology and political character. What is clear today is that the Senate, as it is constituted — the considerable number of fawning and snivelling floor members not excluded — is out of sync with Nigeria’s national ambitions. Something must therefore give if the transformation the country sorely needs is not to miscarry.

    To establish the incontestable fact that the Senate’s 2011 Standing Orders were surreptitiously and illegally amended to guide the elections into the Senate’s leadership positions in 2015, the investigating but vacillating police officers assigned the case have hemmed and hawed so blatantly that they even failed in their preliminary report to conclude whether a crime had been committed or not. They would need the Justice ministry to tell them that forgery is a crime. Worse, according to some reports, the police report that established a case of forgery but not crime was quoted as failing to identify those who conspired to author the surreptitious amendments. Who on earth are the police fooling? The Clerk of the NASS was interviewed; surely he would know who penned the offensive items.

    The main beneficiaries of the surreptitiously amended Standing Orders 2015 — Senate President Bukola Saraki of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — have carried on as if no crime was committed, and no attack upon the national conscience had been carried out brazenly. To placate his conscience, Senator Saraki has struggled to worm his way into the heart of a smouldering and aloof President Muhammadu Buhari. For now, the president is standing pat. Senator Ekweremadu and his supporters have on their own made the ingenious argument that his implausible election as deputy to Senator Saraki is a fortuitous and expedient remedy for the incipient alienation of the Igbo by the Buhari government and the APC. In all this, the morally offensive act of forgery has been rendered secondary, and is attenuated by the perceived or presumed act of political alienation.

    There are two main problems with the ongoing pussyfooting. First, by defending their elections, especially the manner they were procured, and sustaining the profit they had made from the June 9 act, Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu suggest that notwithstanding their leading positions as Nigeria’s top lawmakers, they lack the depth and the ethics to abjure both the processes and bases of their elections. If they have no conscience, or have stilled them, how can they be trusted with the onerous and sensitive job of making great laws for Nigeria? Second, by needlessly and combatively passing a vote of confidence in the Senate leadership, particularly in Senator Saraki, members of the Senate, across party lines and without exception, give the impression of themselves as a bunch of grovelling, selfish and inconsiderate lawmakers. The lawmakers even capped their comicalness when about a dozen of them, together with a horde of House of Representatives members, escorted Senator Saraki’s wife to the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to answer to allegations of financial impropriety. It is still not clear by what authority and on what grounds they displayed that act of loyalty and empathy to someone who is not a lawmaker but simply the wife of the Senate President. The conclusion is unavoidable that Senators — leaders and members alike — simply fail to appreciate the weight of the office they occupy and the centrality of the legislature as a brewer and synthesiser of great laws.

    And this is precisely where President Buhari comes in. As a president wary of confronting once again the challenges he faced as a former military head of state and maligned dictator, as well as the limiting and brutal weaknesses that stymied his past and person, he may now feel castrated by the remonstrating pangs of conscience and the constricting weight of pluralist democracy. But given the false start in the 8th Senate, and the seeming hijack and distortion of the levers and rubrics of the country’s top legislative assemblies by apparent reactionaries, the president must now summon something deeper in him, something unambiguous, pristine, subliminal and celestial, to influence the direction and destination of Nigerian democracy. The cost of not doing something is much higher than the cost of doing something and unintentionally risking fresh and insidious labelling of partisanship and dictatorship. The peace in the lower chamber is tenuous, for the dividing lines are still evident and probably calcifying underneath. The Senate, so cavalier and so shorn of principles, character and morality, is unlikely to know peace as long as the injury done the hallowed upper chamber is neither salved nor honestly tackled.

    Many analysts have referred to President Buhari’s salutary body language as a factor in some of the positive movements being witnessed in some areas of national life. That may be true. But that same body language has also been perceived in other areas as either being permissive of the mundaneness and political corruption of the country’s recent past, or tolerant of the hesitancy, dilatoriness and paralysis that appear to be enervating the country since his inauguration. He had felt impelled to nudge the lower chamber into compromise and rectitude, perhaps because he felt it was not beyond salvage; but he has been quiet about the Senate and indifferent to Senator Saraki, again perhaps because he feels the upper chamber is beyond salvage. By doing nothing more than resisting the Senate President covertly, and spurning the Senate as it were, he risks allowing the impertinent Senator Saraki to consolidate his power base and even embark on the sort of showy and spurious trips he made to Maiduguri recently purporting to empathise with internally displaced persons.

    The president must give life to federal agencies and law enforcement within the ambit of the law. The agencies must know that when they operate vigorously and firmly within the law to tackle graft and political corruption, such as was enacted on Senate floor on June 9, he has their backs. Senators must not be allowed to casually and carelessly rephrase the dialectics in the upper chamber, and recast the polemics in such a way as to confuse the issues and paint a different battle scenarios other than the ones evident to every sensible and judicious Nigerian. Powerful APC leaders may have their preferences for Senate leadership, and support those preferences with all the resources at their disposal, but they can be defeated — only that that defeat must be lawfully procured in such a manner that it does not transform the Senate into a moral outrage, lawless body, and sinister and defiant iconoclastic organ.

    It is not an option for President Buhari to have himself second-guessed all the time. He should make himself clear on the Senate dilemma, and have the boldness and courage to let the world know where he stands. He must give direction to the law and its enforcers, and move steadily and steadfastly into becoming the chief custodian of the values and probity of the people the constitution envisages him to lead with all the moral armaments he told the people he possessed when they voted for him. The stalemate in the Senate is untenable. It must be brought to an end for the nation to move on.

  • Clean-up of Ogoniland: PDP, South-South APC, MOSOP hail Buhari’s approval of implementation of UNEP report

    Clean-up of Ogoniland: PDP, South-South APC, MOSOP hail Buhari’s approval of implementation of UNEP report

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rivers State chapter, and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), have described as a welcome development, President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on Ogoniland’s environmental assessment.

    The Rivers PDP, through its Chairman, Chief Felix Obuah, yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, noted that President Buhari’s action on UNEP and Ogoniland was in tandem with Governor Nyesom Wike’s restoration programme in the state.

    MOSOP, through its President, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, congratulated the President Buhari-led Federal Government of Nigeria for also approving the setting up of the governing structures to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations of the UNEP report on Ogoniland.

    The umbrella organisation of Ogoni people said: “Coming at a time of growing skepticism, driven by experiences of untoward politicisation of implementation of the report by the immediate past administration (of President Goodluck Jonathan), the approval demonstrates a comforting shift from rhetoric to matching words with action, which expresses commitment. The action will rebuild and strengthen the confidence of our (Ogoni) people in the government.

    “In reciprocation of the Federal Government’s response to our outcries, MOSOP pledges to cooperate with the administration (of President Buhari) and other stakeholders to ensure a successful implementation of the recommendations of the report.

    “While we applaud the approach on UNEP report, we will plead with the Federal Government not to delay the constitution of the approved governance structures, to enable urgent commencement of the Ogoni environmental remediation and restoration exercise. We will implore Mr. President to, as a matter of urgency, call for nominations from the defined stakeholders to enhance composition of the Governing Council and the Board of Trustees of the intervention agency.”

    The PDP, while urging President Buhari to match words with actions on the UNEP report, stated that the decision would fast-track the clean-up of Ogoniland.

    The party lauded the President for not discontinuing a process started by previous administrations, which led to the commissioning of UNEP activities in Ogoni and the setting up of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP), particularly by the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, all of which were being gazetted.

    The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-South also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the recommendations of the report.

    The National Vice Chairman of the party in the zone, Prince Hilliard Eta, said in a statement signed by his media aide, Bassey Ita, that the President’s action was an indication that the President Buhari was fully ready to ensure the welfare of all Nigerians as contained in his campaign promises.

    The APC chieftain, who expressed confidence that the government will turn around the economy of the region, also urged the electorate in Bayelsa State to embrace change in the coming governorship election.

    Eta assured that the undue harassment of APC members in the state will soon become history, as the party was reaching out to relevant authorities to put a stop to the menace of the PDP-led authorities.

     

  • New appointments vindicate Buhari, says South East APC

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the south east geopolitical zone has said that recent appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari is a clear demonstration that the President bears no grudge against any section of the country.

    In a statement by its Zonal Spokesman, Osita Okechukwu, a copy of which was made available to newsmen in Abuja, the party said the appointment of Dr Ibe Kachikwu and Engr. Dennis Ajulu as GMD and GED Exploration and Production of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) respectively vindicates the President’s earlier position that every region of the country under his watch would receive equal and fair treatment.

    He also hailed the enlistment of Enugu Airport among the airports to be upgraded, describing it as a clear indication and demonstration that President Buhari bears no grudge against Ndigbo for not voting for him.

    He recalled that the South-East APC had earlier assured the Igbo that President Buhari would not marginalize them for not voting for him, and urged them to disregard rumour merchants who peddle the falsehood the president hates Ndigbo.

    Okechukwu further recalled that, “in the same vein, they detailed the various meetings President Buhari held with Igbo leaders in the course of the presidential campaign, his commitments and how on 7th November, 2014, he personally wrote to Ohaneze Ndigbo.”

    Okechukwu, however, appealed to the President to note, among other things, the dilapidated federal roads in the South East zone; the 2nd Niger Bridge; revamping of Enugu Coal and resolution of the tangle between Geometric Power and Interstate Electric in Aba.

  • Buhari commences payment of ex-militants’ allowances

    Buhari commences payment of ex-militants’ allowances

    The Federal Government has commenced the payment of outstanding allowances of former Niger Delta militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme  (PAP), it emerged yesterday.

    The commencement of payment of the allowances followed the directives of

    President Muhammadu Buhari to the PAP office that the payment of the N65,000 monthly allowance resume immediately following the appointment of Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (Rtd) as the PAP Coordinator and Special Adviser on Niger Delta.

    In a statement yesterday by PAP’s  Head of Media and Communications, Daniel Alabrah, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) confirmed the commencement of the payment of the outstanding  allowances that will be in batches.

    It reads: “The outstanding stipends will be paid in batches. We have commenced payment with the outstanding May 2015 stipends.

    “That of June and July will be paid afterwards.

    “The outstanding allowances and school/training fees of beneficiaries will be cleared at the end of the ongoing verification exercise of genuine claims.

    “Hopefully, the other payments will commence soon once the verification team concludes its exercise.

    “Gen. Boroh said the approval granted by the President for commencement of payment was heartwarming.

    “Mr. President has by his approval demonstrated his commitment to strengthening of the Amnesty Programme.

    “It is heartwarming that he graciously approved funds so as to quickly resolve the issues that have affected the smooth running of the programme.

    “Now beneficiaries whose training or studies have been affected can look forward to resuming their studies sooner than later.

    “We are committed to a quick resolution of all outstanding issues, including the training fees,” Boroh was quoted as saying.

    On assumption of duty after being  appointed as the PAP Coordinator and Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Boroh  immediately set up a seven-man committee to undertake a verification exercise of claims.

    There are about 30,000 ex militants on the register of the Federal Government for the Amnesty Programme.

  • Buhari charges Nigerians on agriculture

    •Says oil, gas revenue won’t be enough 

    President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday that the time has come for Nigerians to take agriculture more serious as crude oil and gas exports will no longer be sufficient as the country’s major revenue earner.

    He made the remark during an audience with Dr Kanayo Nwanze, the Nigerian-born President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    “It’s time to go back to the land. We must face the reality that the petroleum we had depended on for so long will no longer suffice,” Buhari said.

    He said that having used agriculture as a campaign issue in the run up to the last election, he is “ready to assist as many as want to go into agricultural ventures.” He promised that his administration will also cut short the long bureaucratic processes that Nigerian farmers currently go through to get any form of assistance from government.

    He told the IFAD President that improvement of the productivity of farmers, dry season farming, and creative ways to combat the shrinking of the Lake Chad will also receive the attention of his administration.

    He said: “There is so much to be done. We will try and articulate a programme and consult organizations like IFAD for advise.”

    He said that foreign exchange will be conserved for machinery and other items needed for production, “instead of using it to import things like toothpicks.”

    Dr Nwanze congratulated President Buhari on his victory at the general elections and assured him that IFAD was ready to give all possible assistance to the Federal Government and Nigerian farmers to boost agricultural production in the country.

    IFAD is an international organization dedicated to addressing issues of agriculture and poverty alleviation.

  • Oil revenue no longer sustainable – Buhari

    Oil revenue no longer sustainable – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said the time has come for Nigerians to stop paying lip service to agriculture, saying crude oil and gas exports will no longer be sufficient as the country’s major revenue earner.

    The President made the remark during an audience with Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, the Nigerian- born President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Buhari in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said: “It’s time to go back to the land. We must face the reality that the petroleum we had depended on for so long will no longer suffice.

    “We campaigned heavily on agriculture, and we are ready to assist as many who want to go into agricultural ventures.”

    The President promised that his administration will also cut short the long bureaucratic processes that Nigerian farmers had to go through before getting assistance from government.

    He told the IFAD president that improvement of farmers’ productivity, dry season farming and creative ways to combat the shrinking of the Lake Chad will also receive the attention of his administration.

    He said: “There is so much to be done. We will try and articulate a programme and consult organizations like IFAD for advise.”

    He said that foreign exchange will be conserved for machinery and other items needed for production, “instead of using it to import things like toothpicks.”

    Dr. Nwanze congratulated President Buhari on his victory at the general election and assured him that IFAD is ready to give all possible assistance to the Federal Government and Nigerian farmers to boost agricultural production in the country.