Vice President, Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo , says the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programmes(SIPs) are
designed to provide solutions to the problems of poor Nigerians. VP Osinbajo.
Newsmen report that the
programmes include, N-Power, National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme
(NHGSFP), National Cash Transfer Project (NCTP), and Government Enterprise and
Empowerment Programme (GEEP). N-Power, veritable technology platform to boost
education – Osinbajo
Laolu Akande, Senior Special
Assistant to the President, Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President,
in a statement on Friday in Abuja, said Osinbajo spoke at a conference in
Lagos.
Osinbajo delivered a speech at
the 90th birthday of Chief Olu Akinkugbe and the Fifth anniversary of the Olu
Akinkugbe Business Law in Africa Fellowship conference, at Lagos Business
School on Thursday.
The vice president said that the
Buhari-led administration was focused on uplifting the poor in society through
its SIPs.
He said that the programmes were
aimed at ensuring that more Nigerians improved their lives and contributed more
to the nation’s economy.
Osinbajo said that the problems
of the poor in society must be addressed to help economic growth.
“A lot of our ideas in our social
investment policies are micro credit loans to market women and petty traders
and all of that are borrowed heavily from the Indian model.
“ A lot of the programmes that we
are working on today; the Conditional Cash Transfers that we give to the
poorest in society are based on many of these models.
“But these models are the
products of a legal framework; they’re a product of a way of thinking about
dissolving the problems of the poor.
“And we if we do not dissolve the
problem of the poor, no matter how fancy our economic models or policies are,
the vast majority of our people will be poor, consumer spending will be low,
and generally speaking our economies cannot be where they ought to be, because
the vast majority are so far behind,” he said.
According to the vice president,
the rule of law remains the most potent weapon for socio-economic revolution
because the success of African economies and commerce will depend largely on
the enforcement of laws and regulations.
He further said that it was time
for Africa to rethink and re-engineer its jurisprudence.
Osinbajo highlighted some
challenges confronting Africa ranging from how to provide opportunities for
millions of young men and women, to extreme poverty, illiteracy and disease,
desertification resulting in famines and conflicts over land and water.
“All of these challenges clearly
will define how the future of the world itself will shape up in the coming
decades; simply because Africa has the population and continues to increase in
that population day by day.
“Commerce and economic
development cannot thrive where the majority is desperately poor, illiterate
and exposed to diseases all the time.
“The country’s effective market,
any country’s effective market, GDP, and human development indices depend on
the standard of living of its people. The law and administration of justice can
change the bleak narratives on poverty,” he said.
He said that Africa needed the
capacity to undertake complex economic studies of its diverse situations and present
alternative or comparative perspectives, which could form the basis for more
confident negotiations.
Felicitating with Akinkugbe on
his 90th birthday, the vice president described him as a quintessential
Nigerian business icon with a legacy of ethical conduct.
He said that the Olu Akinkugbe Business Law in Africa
Fellowship was, itself, an investment in knowledge and scholarship, in people,
and in the future of Africa.
On his part, Akinkugbe described
Osinbajo as one that gave Nigerians hope for the future of the country. “It is
often not the case that you have people with complete understanding of the
problems that we face in the country.
“He (Osinbajo) has intervened in
the different struggles in this country. “ May God help you to continue to give
your best to Nigeria,” Akinkugbe said.
Newsmen report that on Aug. 2,
the federal government said the sum of N140 billion out of the N500 billion
budgeted for its SIP in 2017 has been released.
It also said for 2016, only N80
billion of the budgeted N500 billion, was released bringing total sum released
to N220 billion out of N1 trillion within the period for the implementation of
the four major components of the programme.
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