*Pipeline Vandalism immediate cause of recession-VP
Implementation plans for the effective commencement of a number of the
Social Investment programmes of the Buhari presidency has reached advanced
stages as the selection of the first 200,000 unemployed graduates to get
jobs is now being completed.
Speaking with a small group of Radio journalists and producers at the
Presidential Villa, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN disclosed that “we
expect that before the end of the month, we will engage 200,000,” out of
the 500,000 unemployed graduates the Buhari administration plans to hire
in the N-Power jobs programme.
According to him, the direct government jobs is meant “to keep this young
people occupied, pay them some amount of money and also give them a
device, which will also help them to learn several skills that they can
develop as time goes on.”
Prof. Osinbajo added that “we expect that before the end of this month,
we should have engaged 200,000 of them and we are hoping that before the
end of the year we should have engaged more.”
Similarly, Prof. Osinbajo disclosed that the Home-Grown School Feeding
programme is set to kick off in several states this month.
“Definitely before the end of this month, we expect that several states
would have come on stream with their Home-grown School Feeding
Programmes,” the Vice President noted.
He added that the Home-Grown School Feeding programme “will energise
agriculture in the different states because it is what you plant that you
feed the children with, we will be hiring caterers, cooks, etc in each
state because it will be Federal Government funded from Primaries 1-3 and
the state governments hopefully would be able to cater for the other
classes.”
According to the Vice President, the Home-Grown School Feeding programme
is another section of the Social Investment programmes that impact
directly on the lives of Nigerian children and families. He said several
states will start implementing the Home-grown School Feeding Programme
before the end of October.
Equally he stated that the Micro-Credit scheme for which the Buhari
administration will give very low-cost loans to more than one million
Nigerian artisans, traders, market women and other ranging from N60,000 to
N100,000 would also be kicking off this month.
According to him, “for women across the country, we are giving loans,
micro credit loans to about 1.5 million women. We are focusing on market
women and artisans, loans between N60,000 and 100,000 each. We are working
through the Bank of Industry, BOI. They are going to be giving out these
loans, we‘ve already identified the banks and everybody who is involved in
this. We should be flagging-off hopefully before the end of this month”
Such soft loans to the artisans, traders and market women, according to
him, is meant “to boost their businesses.”
The Vice President reassured Nigerians that the current Federal Government
led by President Muhammadu Buhari is well focused on ameliorating the
plight of the citizens of the country, observing that the administration
feels the pains of the citizens and is committed to assuaging them.
Said he: “We fully understand and appreciate the situation of things in
the country and we are committed to ensuring that that pain is assuaged.
The President stated that clearly in his October 1st broadcast to the
nation. All his life, he has been a salary earner, he has never been a
businessman, so he understands why someone who earns a salary and even
those who do not, are severely challenged at this time of economic
recession such as we are experiencing.”
On the economy, Vice President Osinbajo said government is committed to
developing it, to enable citizens find opportunities within the country.
“I want to assure Nigerians that the government of President Buhari is a
very focused and determined government. We are committed to ensuring that
we are able to develop the Nigerian economy in such a way that Nigerians
are able to find opportunities in their own country, “he said.
He listed the ‘Made in Nigeria’ project, moving away from import
dependence, boosting agriculture, and encouraging manufacturing as some of
the urgent actions being pursued by government in order to move the
country forward.
The Vice President also emphasized the Buhari administration’s zero
tolerance for corruption, as corruption is “the major drain on the
country’s resources” adding that “no one would be spared in the fight
against corruption because, even the close friends of the President know
that they will not be spared, he will not cover for them. Fighting
corruption is a priority,” he stressed.
On the current recession, the Vice President said the fall in oil prices
and pipeline vandalism were the immediate causes of the recession, thus
reducing drastically, the country’s revenue. But he assured that
government will adequately manage the little being realised now.
“We were producing up to 2.2 million barrels a day but all of a sudden,
the vandalization of our terminals caused us to loose up to a million
barrels a day.
“So when you loose up to 60% of your revenue or even more, there must be a
shock because you are really earning very little and we will ensure that
that very little that we are earning is as well managed as possible,” he
said.