In the early hours of this morning, Nigeria began on her Independence day celebration with the Independence day parade followed by the President’s address to the nation. We at Bizwatch Nigeria Bring to you the most important things that were said in the speech.
1 Fight Against Corruption
The president stated that the country has strengthened the Institutions for tackling corruption and also cultivated international support, which aided the repatriation of huge sums of money illegally kept outside the country. The increasing number of prosecutions and convictions, with associated refunds of large sums of money, is still ongoing. Furthermore, we would continue to block opportunities that encourage corrupt practices.
Nigeria’s Battle Against Insecurity
In order to address Insecurity, The President stated that Nigeria has worked methodically in reducing Insurgency in the North East, Militancy in the Niger Delta, and Ethnic and Religious Tensions in some sections of Nigeria along with other problems threatening our country. I share the pains Nigerians are going through and I assure you that your resilience and patience would not be in vain as this administration continues to reposition as well as strengthen the security agencies to enable them to deal with all forms of security challenges.
ASUU Strike Address
“I must confess that I am very pained by the recurring disruption to our tertiary education system and I am using this Independence Day celebration to reiterate my call for the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to the classroom while assuring them to deal with their contending issues within the limits of the scarce resources available”.
He stated that his administration has made appreciable progress in redressing these issues that have been lingering for over eleven years. “The Federal Government will continue to mobilize resources both internationally and nationally towards funding education to ensure that our citizens are well educated and skilled in various vocations in view of the fact that education is a leading determinant of economic growth and employment generation”.
Fight Against Poverty
The President was pleased to inform my fellow citizens that besides our emphasis on infrastructural development with its attendant opportunities for job creation, employment generation and subsequent poverty reduction, our focused intervention directly to Nigerians through the National Social Investment Programme is also yielding benefits.
“There is hardly any ward, village or local government in Nigeria today that has not benefited from one of the following: N-Power, trader-moni, market moni, subsidized loans, business grants or Conditional Cash Transfers.
All the aforementioned programmes along with various interventions by the National Social Investment Programme, and direct support to victims of flooding and other forms of disasters have provided succour to the affected Nigerians.
Health Sector
“Fellow Nigerians, we have also improved our health facilities, especially during and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which attracted commendation from the global community”.
He went on to state that Nigeria was one of the countries that defied global predictions of the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic because of our resilience, commitment and passion with which we individually and collectively managed the pandemic.
“This administration embarked on addressing critical ecological challenges across the country in order to mitigate the impact of Climate Change manifesting in the form of flood, soil erosion, desertification, air pollution amongst others”.
Nigeria and SME’s Business
The President stated that Nigeria’s administration has given the desired priority to the Agricultural Sector through a series of incentives to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises that resulted in creating millions of jobs. Leading this initiative, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s intervention in a number of areas as well as the Anchor Borrowers Programme had created the required leverages for Nigerians towards self-sufficiency in food and the necessary attraction for farming as a business.
Nigeria’s Economy
The President stated that “Our efforts in re-setting the economy manifested in Nigeria exiting two economic recessions by the very practical and realistic monetary and fiscal measures to ensure effective public financial management.
