The major fundamental problem confronting Nigeria is the lack of an effective system of governance. It is therefore very important that a serious government first and foremost tackle this issue in order to create an enabling environment that will guarantee sustainable development.
To this end, it is commendable that the Buhari government effectively concluded the implementation process of Bank Verification Number (BVN) started by the previous administration by giving national deadlines for compliance. And in the same vein, the full and effective implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy by insisting that all government agencies and institutions comply with it provided the needed foundation for running an efficient and transparent government.
Note that while the Bank Verification Number increase security and prevent bank customers from illegal transactions and fraud, the Treasury Single Account ensure all revenue receipts and payments are done through a Consolidated Revenue Account (CRA) at the Central Bank of Nigeria.
And the full implementation of these two policies helped to enhance and increase the effectiveness of the operations of Nigerian financial regulators and anti-corruption agencies. This therefore creates the much needed foundation for good governance and economic development.
Also, the capital expenditure for the 2014 budget was N1.10 trillion representing 22.16% of the budget while the capital expenditure for the 2018 budget is at N2.87 trillion representing 31.5 per cent of the budget. This implies that the Buhari government is spending far more on capital projects and infrastructure than the previous government.
Below is an overview of the Buhari government policies and achievement in different sectors of the country.
Agriculture
A good example is the “Anchor Borrowers Scheme of the Central Bank of Nigeria” which the government said has substantially raised local production of rice in 2016. The report stated that yields from rice farming improved from 2-3 tonnes per hectare to as high as 5-6 tonnes per hectare.
This programme also produced a model agricultural collaboration between Lagos and Kebbi States whereby rice produced in Kebbi state find easy and ready market in Lagos state thereby leading to “Over N300 billion investments in the rice value chain.
There is also the Home Grown School Feeding Programme whereby farmers are linked to available market for their produce through the government sponsored School Feeding programme in their neighborhood.
Power Generation and Distribution
It is important for Nigeria to be pragmatic in its plans to Generate, Transmit, and Distribute power to the consumers and this was probably why the Buhari government increased the budget for the Ministry of Power, Works, and Housing from N106 billion in 2014 to N325 billion in 2017. And this is one of the contributing factors for the increase in power distribution capacity from 2,690 MW in 2015 to 5,222 MW in 2018, as stated by the Minister of Power, Works, and Housing Babatunde Raji Fashola.
He also clarified that “the DISCOs complained about lack of enough power to distribute in 2016, but that the problem today is that the DISCOs cannot distribute all of the Power that is available, leaving the sector with an unused capacity of 2,000 MW, with the approximately 1,150 MW projected to come this year and 2019.”
The Minister also anticipates that the wheeling capacity of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) will increase to 20,000 megawatts by 2020.
On the university power projects, the minister explained that the idea was to use the universities as the “anchor” for supplying electricity to the rural communities where they are located for the dual purpose of serving both the universities and the communities and that among the beneficiary universities are those in Sokoto, Makurdi, Lagos, Ile - Ife, Bauchi, Awka , and Kano.
Infrastructure Development
The Buhari government increased the budget for the Ministry of Transport from N14 billion in 2014 to N127 billion in 2017 as a result of its drive for infrastructure development. And one of such project is the completion of the first phase of the Abuja Light-Rail system in 2018. Its first line connects the City centre with the Airport and also includes a link with the Abuja-Kaduna railway line.
Another ongoing railway project is the Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway from the Atlantic Ocean port of Lagos to Kano, near the Niger border which is being built in segments. Only the segment between Abuja and Kaduna has been completed so far, and services began officially in July 2016. The segment between Lagos and Ibadan is under construction.
There is also the Abuja Airport Runway which was promptly completed in 2017 to improve its standard and ability to function optimally.
And on August 27, 2018 Vanguard published that the Federal Government released a list of 69 ongoing roads, and bridge projects in the south-east of Nigeria alone.
In the aspect of Health Infrastructure development, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said the ministry has revitalized over 4,000 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across the country to position the country on the path towards achieving sustainable development and universal health coverage.
International Relations
It is a sign of good omen when World leaders like Emmanuel Macron (President of France), Theresa May (British Prime Minister), Angela Merkel (German Chancellor), and Prince Charles of England, all visited Nigeria under the present Administration of Muhammadu Buhar this is an indication that the World now has a more positive view of Nigeria and its people due to the effects of some of the policies of the present government.
Social Investment
The Buhari administration said that “all four components of its Social Investment Programme (SIP) have now taken off. The SIP happens to be the largest and most ambitious social safety net programme in the history of Nigeria, with N140 billion released and more than 9 million direct beneficiaries so far. Below is a brief overview of these four programmes.
Home Grown School Feeding Programme
The Buhari government said that the “Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) currently feeds a total of 8.2 million pupils in 45,394 public primary schools across 24 states.” And that Over 80,000 direct job have been created from the School Feeding Programme; with 87,261 cooks currently engaged in the 24 participating states.
NPower Programme
The federal government acknowledged that no fewer than 200,000 graduates were enrolled in the first phase of the NPower job scheme and that additional 300, 000 graduates have enrolled in the scheme’s second phase in 2018.These NPower graduate volunteers are entitled to N30, 000 monthly stipends and a mobile device gadget to facilitate the on the job learning process in their place of deployment.
Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program
The MarketMoni is a BOI Social Intervention Programme which is part of the Buhari government Social Investment Programme. MarketMoni attracts no interest except a one-time 5% administrative fee. So far over 24,000 beneficiaries have accessed MarketMoni.If an association or cooperative registers for it and it qualifies, a MarketMoni agent would be sent to the group to capture it members for loan assessment. The beneficiaries receive loans ranging from N10,000 to N100,000 per applicant for as long as 6 months.
Conditional Cash Transfer
The Conditional Cash Transfer is a federal government programme to aid the poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria through a Conditional Cash Transfer scheme. A government official said that “So far, about 297,973 households have been mined and are being paid stipends in 20 States” of the country.Security
It is understood that before the Buhari government came to power, Boko Haram was in control of many local governments in the North East of the country. But the army under his watch and in cooperation with the security agencies of neighboring countries like Chad, Cameroon and Niger was able to reclaim these territories from the terrorists.
The federal government also successfully freed some of the kidnapped Chibok school girls and the kidnap of secondary school girls in Dapchi, Yobe State from Boko Haram. Although, some news media alleged that the government paid €3m for the release of the Chibok school girls from the Boko Haram.
Although the recent Boko Haram attack on Nigerian soldiers which is said to have led to fatal casualties on the part of the military indicates that the Nigerian government and Army need to do more in order to completely eliminate the threat posed by these groups.
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