The focus of any country and its leadership that believes in the future and well being of its citizenry is to better the economic prosperity of such country.
For a country like Nigeria which its economy has been in the doldrums and is close to recession recently, a lot of efforts were required from Nigerians and their leadership to collectively avert such global shame.
Last year, precisely May, 29th, there was a change of baton in the leadership of the country-the first of its kind in the history of the country, all in a bid to enthrone transparency in the management of the country’s resources.
Frankly, Nigeria needed a change from the corrupt tradition and practices that are inimical to the development of the country. Again, it needed an astute leader; a man with impeccable character or unquestionable credentials to drive the development of the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari was the man chosen by Nigerians. He was adjudged to be the best of them all. With his Military background and the passion he has for the country, they believed he would be willing to step on toes and hit the ground running.
Of course, Buhari knew that it would be hard to make changes in Nigeria without stepping on a lot of toes; consequently, he was willing to step on toes to get things done, unlike his predecessors who did nothing in that regard.
In his one year in office, Buhari was able to record considerable improvement in almost all the sectors of the economy.
SECURITY
He knew his administration would achieve little economically if the security challenges in the country was not addressed. Buhari therefore, intensified the fight against the Boko Haram. Now, the country has achieved relatively peace which is healthy for investors who are willing to do business in Nigeria.
TSA
As a transparent leader and crusader for corrupt free Nigeria, Buhari re-introduced Treasury Single Account (TSA) aimed at enhancing accountability, transparency and improved revenue generation of the country.
While reacting to questions at a meeting with members of the Nigerian Community in Saudi Arabia at the Nigerian House in Riyadh, Buhari said that TSA has started yielding results.
He announced that his administration had introduced a number of policies and programmes aimed at saving the nation’s economy from collapse.
Buhari cited the TSA and the Zero-based Budget as some of the meaningful financial policies that was checking fraud in the system, saying it had started yielding fruitful results.
According to him, “the nation has so far realised over N2.6 trillion” from the newly introduced TSA.
He, therefore, expressed optimism that with the introduction of the single account, the 2016 budget implementation might not record any form of deficit at the end of the financial year.
As a confirmation to this fact, the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) commended the Buhari-led administration for implementing the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the aviation sector.
The President of the Association, Mr Victor Eyaru who gave the commendation in Lagos said, the re-introduction of the TSA had reduced fraudulent activities and restored sanity in the sector.
“I will give the government kudos for introducing TSA into the aviation sector. Without the TSA, the kind of fraud exposed in the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) would not have been possible,” he said.
OIL AND GAS SECTOR
Buhari has foreseen that the success of his administration would be dependent on his ability to properly manage the oil and gas sector, especially Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that was why he chose to be the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
He saw that the corruption in that sector was one that was capable of retrogressing the country economically, therefore, he swung into action by restructuring NNPC.
Obviously, a corporation such as NNPC, which is contributing around 80% to the Nigerian Economy, clean-up and restructuring was necessary to reposition it for global competitiveness and economic much needed uplift.
The cleanup in NNPC started with the appointment of Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu as the Group Managing Director; the duty he assumed immediately because of the enormous work to do.
Indeed, a lot was expected of Dr. Kachikwu because as a man that has been around the oil and gas business, his wealth of experience was required to transform the Corporation-A place that depicts corruption in the minds of Nigerians.
It is not only that Dr. Kachikwu is a First Class Graduate of Law from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the Nigerian Law School, or that he holds Masters and Doctorate Degrees in Law from the Harvard Law School, but was the Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Exxon Mobil (Africa).
He started his working career with the Nigerian/American Merchant Bank before moving on to Texaco Nigeria Limited from where he joined Exxon-Mobil.
With such impeccable credentials, Dr. Kachikwu was indeed the right man for the job. As expected, his eyes were fixed on how to assiduously work to achieve the president’s growth aspiration for the oil and gas industry.
Barely a week after his appointment as the GMD, NNPC, Dr. Kachikwu announced the retirement of all eight Group Executive Directors of the Corporation. They are: Mr. Bernard Otti, GED Finance and Accounts; Dr. Timothy Okon, Acting GED Exploration and Production who also doubles as Coordinator Corporate Planning & Strategy; Engr. Adebayo Ibirogba, Engineering and Technology; Dr. David Ige, Gas and Power; Ms. Aisha Abdurrahman, Commercial and Investment; Dr. Dan Efebo, Corporate Services; Engr. Ian Udoh, Refining & Petrochemicals; and Dr. Attahiru Yusuf, Business Development. As a follow up, NNPC appointed four new Group Executive Directors to man the four new Directorates that have been approved by the Presidency.
According to Dr. Kachikwu, the new appointments were in line with the Federal Government’s aspiration to transform the Corporation into a lean, efficient, business-focused, transparent and accountable national oil company in keeping with international best practices.
The appointments which he said were approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, included: Dr. Maikanti Baru, Group Executive Director, Exploration & Production; Mr. Isiaka Abdulrazaq, Group Executive Director, Finance & Services; Engr. Dennis Nnamdi Ajulu, Group Executive Director, Refining & Technology; and Dr. Babatunde Victor Adeniran, Group Executive Director, Commercial & Investment.
A new Company Secretary/Legal Adviser and Managing Directors have also been appointed for the Strategic Business Units. They are: Chidi Momah, Group General Manager, Company Secratarty & Legal Adviser; Mrs. Esther Nnamdi Ogbue, Managing Director, Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC); Engr. Chinedu Ezeribe, Managing Director, Warri Refinning & Petrochemicals Company (WRPC); Mr. Babatunde Bakare, Managing Director, Nigerian Gas Company (NGC); Mr. Inuwa Ibrahim Waya, Managing Director, Hyson; Mr. Abubakar Mai-Bornu, Managing Director, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC); and Mr. Ladipo Fagbola, Managing Director, NNPC Retail.
Others are: Mr. Rowland Ewubare, Managing Director, Integrated Data Services Ltd (IDSL); Mr. Modupe Bammeke, Managing Director, NNPC Prpoerties; Mr. Abdulkadir Saidu, Managing Director, Duke Oil; and Mr. Dafe Sejebor, Group General…
As a follow up, Federal Government unbundled NNPC into seven divisions comprising 20 subsidiaries to be more business focused.
The seven divisions included: Upstream Company, Downstream Company, Gas and Power Company, Refineries and Ventures. Others that are not business related are: Corporate Services, Finance and Trading Company.
The restructuring of NNPC has so far received commendations from Nigerians (at home and in the Diaspora), Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government, especially the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
NEITI said it welcomes with hope and optimism the courageous steps taken so far by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration to restructure the management and administrative organs of the NNPC.
NEITI was encouraged that the measures taken so far largely inspired hope and confidence. The measures are also consistent with the findings and recommendations of NEITI in its various Independent Audit Reports. These Reports were ignored in the past.
Frankly speaking, no serious minded administration or government interested in the economy of the country would joke with the business activities in NNPC. Therefore, since the present administration has shown a sign of seriousness and transparent way of doing the oil and gas business using the NNPC, all loopholes must be properly plugged and positive improvement made to further boost the economy.
POWER/WORKS/HOUSING
The power situation in the country is worrisome. The challenges are huge therefore, required the support of all stakeholders including foreign investors. This informed his trip recently to China.
Buhari believes the challenges are fixable therefore, reached several agreements with Chinese investors.
The agreements reached are expected to translate into investments in power, solid minerals, housing, technology, transportation and other sectors as well as significantly improve infrastructure across the country.
His spokesman, Garba Shehu stated that in the power sector, North South Power Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed an agreement valued at $478,657,941.28 for the construction of 300 Mega Watts solar power in Shiriro, Niger State.
“In the solid minerals sector, Granite and Marble Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at $55 million for the construction and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria.
“A total of $1 billion USD is to be invested in the development of a greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under an agreement reached by the Infrastructure Bank and Sinohydro Corporation Limited.
“For the housing sector, both companies also sealed a $250 million deal to develop an ultra modern 27-storey high rise complex and a $2.5 billion agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line project,” he said.
The presidential spokesman said other agreements signed during the visit include a $1 billion deal for the establishment of a Hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State.
The Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited equally signed an agreement valued at $200million for the construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.
“An agreement valued at $363 million for the establishment of a comprehensive farm and downstream industrial park in Kogi state was also announced at the Nigeria-China business forum.
“Other agreements undergoing negotiations include a $500 million project for the provision of television broadcast equipment and a $25 million facility for production of pre-paid smart meters between Mojec International Limited and Microstar Company Limited,” Shehu said.
Shehu said about 100 Nigerian businesses and 300 Chinese firms participated in the Nigeria-China business forum which took place a day after President Buhari began his visit to China.
AGRICULTURE
One of the policy thrusts of President Buhari’s administration is economic diversification, because Nigerians agreed that over-reliance on oil and gas as the main source of the country’s revenue was causing more harm than good. He therefore, evolved policies that would boost domestic manufacturing and attract greater investment to Nigeria’s agricultural and mining sectors.
He told French Investors that the country was doing everything possible to encourage diversification into non-oil sectors.
“We are doing our utmost best to encourage diversification into non-oil sectors, which can employ a lot of people and we will welcome your support in this regard.”
“Ultimately, reducing unemployment will also help to improve security because unemployment and insecurity are inseparable,” he said.
Again, he saw that spent $2.14 billion on importation of rice between 2012 and 2015 therefore, there was need to encourage local manufacturing and consumption to stop such unnecessary spending on rice that could be grown in Nigeria.
Efforts are on for him to put a stop to importation of food items into the country, in a bid to ensure that the Nigerian State produces enough food resources to feed herself without depending on other nations for food security.
He strongly believes that if a country like China with a population of over 1.4 billion people can provide food security for her citizens through mechanized farming, Nigeria with less than 200 million people could do same.
There are other innovations in the agricultural sector that are ongoing to boost the economy.
CBN
Apart from some of the measures taken by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) towards financial stability of the country, CBN has been supporting other sectors of the economy especially agriculture in the area of soft loans and encouraging local production.
Just recently, CBN issued a directive stopping some imported goods and services from the list of items valid for forex in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Markets.
This policy implies is that, those who import these items can no longer buy foreign currency from the official window to pay the overseas suppliers. Rather, they will have to source forex from the parallel market or Bureau De Change to pay for their imports.
CBN said, importers of Rice, Cement, Margarine, Palm kernel/Palm oil products/vegetables oils, Meat and processed meat products, Vegetables and processed vegetable products, Poultry chicken, eggs, turkey, Private airplanes/jets, Indian incense, Tinned fish in sauce(Geisha)/sardines, Cold rolled steel sheets, Galvanized steel sheets, Roofing sheets, Wheelbarrows, Head pans, Metal boxes and containers, Enamelware, Steel drums, Steel pipes, Wire rods(deformed and not deformed), Iron rods and reinforcing bard, Wire mesh, Steel nails, Security and razor wine, Wood particle boards and panels, Wood Fibre Boards and Panels, Plywood boards and panels, Wooden doors, Toothpicks, Glass and Glassware, Kitchen utensils, Tableware, Tiles-vitrified and ceramic, Textiles, Woven fabrics, Clothes, Plastic and rubber products, polypropylene granules , cellophane wrappers, Soap and cosmetics, Tomatoes/tomato pastes, Eurobond/foreign currency bond/ share purchases would no longer qualified to get foreign exchange from the CBN or the official market to buy these items from overseas.
Although a lot are needed to be done, Buhari has however, shown to the world that he is equal to the task. His current fight against corruption if vigorously and fairly pursued, would lead to rapid development of the country.
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