President Muhammadu Buhari on
Thursday inaugurated the National Economic Council, NEC, to oversee the
economic plans of his administration for the next four years.
The inauguration was held at the
council chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Speaking during the inauguration,
Buhari urged NEC members to ensure that security, education, health and
agriculture are actively implemented and closely monitored.
According to Buhari, the
implementation of these programmes would ensure a more peaceful and prosperous
Nigeria.
Read full text of Buhari’s speech
below:
I am delighted to be with you
this afternoon to inaugurate the National Economic Council (NEC).
2. NEC is established by the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999), as amended. By virtue
of Section 153 and paragraph 18 of the 3rd Schedule to the Constitution, NEC
has the mandate to advise the President on economic policy of the country and
in particular, co-ordination of the economic planning efforts, and programmes
of the three- tiers of Government.
3. I am very happy to observe
that during our first term of office, the Council made very significant
progress, holding an unprecedented total of 38 meetings and setting up 10
Ad-Hoc Committees to address various issues of national concern. In the course
of its deliberations, it came up with a total of 173 resolutions, cutting
across eight areas, namely;
a. Agriculture and Solid
Minerals;
b. Investments Promotion and
Industrialization;
c. Monetary and fiscal stability;
d. Infrastructure;
e. Health and Education;
f. Revenue Generation;
g. Security and
h. Support for States.
4. The resolutions were designed
to energize the various sectors of the Nigerian economy to which the eight
areas relate. Initiatives brought about by the NEC resolutions are either
implemented already or at different stages of implementation across the
country. Together, they have proved to be of utmost importance in dictating the
pace of national development.
5. I therefore urge the NEC
Coordination Team to press forward with key initiatives that will strengthen
the implementation mechanism, enhance cooperation across States and further
promote joint deliberations, peer learning and experience sharing, under a very
strong Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.
6. Your Excellencies, I want you
to pay special attention to the four major issues of security, education,
health and agriculture in the coming years of this tenure. As you are no doubt
aware, our successes in these four areas will go a long way in lifting our
people out of poverty and secure our future for sustainable growth and
development.
7. On Security, government will
continue to rate security of lives and properties as top priority on our
agenda. We are firmly committed to securing the territorial integrity of our
nation, while confronting the remnants of terrorists, bandits and other
criminals across the country. There must be collective and deliberate efforts
by all to improve the security of lives and properties across the country.
Security is a bottom to top operation. Everybody must be involved for total
success.
8. On education, I want to stress
in particular the need to take very seriously and enforce very rigorously the
statutory provisions on free and compulsory basic education. Section 18(3) of
the 1999 Constitution as amended places on all of us here an obligation to
eradicate illiteracy and provide free and compulsory education.
9. Section 2 of the Compulsory,
Free Universal Basic Education Act provides that every Government in Nigeria
shall provide free, compulsory and universal basic education for every child of
primary and junior secondary school age. It is indeed a crime for any parent to
keep his child out of school for this period. In my view, when a government
fails to provide the schools, teachers and teaching materials necessary for
basic education, it is actually aiding and abetting that crime.
10. This is therefore a call to
action. I would like to see every Governor rise from this meeting and rally his
local Government Chairmen towards ensuring that our schools offer the right
opportunities and provide the needed materials and teachers for basic
education, at the minimum. If we are able to do this, the benefits will surely
manifest themselves.
11. Ensuring proper education
during the first nine years of schooling means that our children start off their
lives with some discipline and education. They will be safeguarded from roaming
the streets, and protected from all the evil influences that assail idle hands
and idle minds.
12. Whatever they choose to do
thereafter, children with basic education will be better prepared to learn and
to appreciate their own role in society. This will also go a long way in
solving our security and other anti-social problems, which are often the
manifestations of early delinquency. I therefore think every Governor here
should make a firm commitment to be personally involved in ensuring that every
child of school age actually goes to school throughout the crucial nine years
of basic education.
13. On our own part, the Federal
Government will strive to extend the school feeding programme which will not
only encourage school enrolment but also enhance the health and learning
capabilities of pupils. We will also assist States as much as possible to
access the counterpart funding provided by UBEC for the development of basic
education.
14. As I already indicated,
public healthcare is also a major sector of concern where States and Local
Governments have crucial roles to play. Health is an area where the neglect of
one person quickly amounts to the neglect of many. It is in our collective
interest that each and every citizen gets at least a minimal access to
healthcare, including primary, preventive and emergency care.
15. Funding is again a major
problem in this regard, so we must take more seriously the idea of universal health
insurance and strive to make it work in our respective domains. We must also
find ways of assisting the poorest and most vulnerable in our society, who
cannot even afford to pay the premium. We must therefore resolve to increase
budgetary allocation to health and ensure prompt fund releases to keep the
hospitals and primary healthcare centres in operation at all times.
16. The Federal Government is now
implementing the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund. By this, we hope to achieve
at least 65 percent increase in the share of the population covered by primary
healthcare by 2023, up from the 12.6 percent we cover at the moment.
17. Accordingly, it is imperative
for us to do more on diversifying the economy, and this necessarily entails the
sustenance and even acceleration of the agricultural revolution, which is
already firmly rooted in some States. Of our nearly one million hectares of
land, about 77% is confirmed suitable for agriculture.
18. The potentials are therefore
huge, both for the domestic and international markets. Mechanisation and
agro-allied industry are very big areas still largely untapped and awaiting
investment, both by government and the private sector. I therefore urge you to
take agriculture most seriously as a very viable developmental enterprise.
19. While the Federal Government
has primary responsibility for security and will not shy away from it, the
States also have a critical role to play; in particular Your Excellencies, as
State Governors. You can definitely make a difference, not just by assisting
the security agencies in your respective States, but also by keenly pursuing
policies and programmes that forestall communal, tribal, religious and societal
conflicts; policies and programs that promote education, information, dispute
resolution, vocational training and youth employment.
20. I have no doubt that if these
four areas – security, education, health and agriculture – are actively
implemented and closely monitored by NEC and the Governors’ Forum, we shall in
the near future see a more peaceful and prosperous Nigeria.
21. Your Excellencies, the
Federal Government in the last four years has demonstrated unwavering
inclusiveness in dealing with every State, notwithstanding the political
leaning of the Governor or the predominant party in power at the State level. I
want this to be your model at the State level. No matter which party we belong
to, let us shun divisive policies and join hands together for the upliftment of
our people.
22. Going forward, States must in
the next four years find ways to increase internally generated revenues,
improve VAT collection and increase agricultural output without disrupting
business activities. I also want you to work with the Federal Agencies and the
service providers in ensuring that broadband infrastructure is made available
all over the country. Information and Communication Technology is the future of
work and we must not allow ourselves to be left behind.
23. Let me restate the high
expectations on NEC as a veritable source of articulating policies and
programmes that are expected to drive growth and development, secure our
environment and take the country to the next level. Your Excellencies, the
challenges that confront us in the next few years, especially in the areas of
security, human capital development and employment for our youths are
monumental and historic. But we are more than equal to the task.
24. I have the honour and
privilege to formally inaugurate the National Economic Council today, and to
wish you all a very successful tenure.
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