President Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians that his
administration will remove all the obstacles confronting the nation’s economy
and businesses, saying he is not insensitive to the plight of the citizens.
Tinubu stated this in his New Year national broadcast on
Monday.
“I am well aware that for some time now the conversations
and debates have centred on the rising cost of living, high inflation which is
now above 28% and the unacceptable high under-employment rate.
“From the boardrooms at Broad Street in Lagos to the
main-streets of Kano and Nembe Creeks in Bayelsa, I hear the groans of
Nigerians who work hard every day to provide for themselves and their families.
“I am not oblivious to the expressed and sometimes
unexpressed frustrations of my fellow citizens. I know for a fact that some of
our compatriots are even asking if this is how our administration wants to
renew their hope.
“Dear Compatriots,
take this from me: the time may be rough and tough, however, our spirit must
remain unbowed because tough times never last. We are made for this period,
never to flinch, never to falter.
“The socio-economic challenges of today should energize and
rekindle our love and faith in the promise of Nigeria. Our current
circumstances should make us resolve to work better for the good of our beloved
nation. Our situation should make us resolve that this new year 2024, each and
everyone of us will commit to be better citizens.
“Silently, we have worked to free captives from abductors.
While we can’t beat our chest yet that we had solved all the security problems,
we are working hard to ensure that we all have peace of mind in our homes,
places of work and on the roads.
“Having laid the
groundwork of our economic recovery plans within the last seven months of 2023,
we are now poised to accelerate the pace of our service delivery across
sectors,” he said.
President Tinubu further stated, “Just this past December
during COP28 in Dubai, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and I agreed and
committed to a new deal to speed up the delivery of the Siemens Energy power
project that will ultimately deliver reliable supply of electricity to our
homes and businesses under the Presidential Power Initiative which began in
2018.
“Other power installation projects to strengthen the
reliability of our transmission lines and optimise the integrity of our
National grid are ongoing across the country.
“My administration
recognises that no meaningful economic transformation can happen without steady
electricity supply. In 2024, we are moving a step further in our quest to
restart local refining of petroleum products with Port Harcourt Refinery, and
the Dangote Refinery which shall fully come on stream.
“To ensure constant food supply, security and affordability,
we will step up our plan to cultivate 500,000 hectares of farmlands across the
country to grow maize, rice, wheat, millet and other staple crops. We launched
the dry season farming with 120,000 hectares of land in Jigawa State last
November under our National Wheat
Development Programme.
“In this new year, we will race against time to ensure all
the fiscal and tax policies reforms we need to put in place are codified and
simplified to ensure the business environment does not destroy value. On every
foreign trip I have embarked on, my message to investors and other business
people has been the same. Nigeria is ready and open for business.
“I will fight every
obstacle that impedes business competitiveness in Nigeria and I will not
hesitate to remove any clog hindering our path to making Nigeria a destination
of choice for local and foreign investments.
“In my 2024 Budget presentation to the National Assembly, I
listed my administration’s 8 priority areas to include national defence and
internal security, job creation, macro-economic stability, investment
environment optimization, human capital development, poverty reduction and
social security. Because we take our development agenda very seriously, our
2024 budget reflects the premium we placed on achieving our governance
objectives.
“We will work diligently to make sure every Nigerian feels
the impact of their government. The economic aspirations and the material
well-being of the poor, the most vulnerable and the working people shall not be
neglected.
“It is in this spirit
that we are going to implement a new national living wage for our
industrious workers this new year. It is not only good economics to do this, it
is also a morally and politically correct thing to do,” he said.
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