Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says President Muhammadu Buhari
will use a simple, commonsense strategy to lift 100 million Nigerians out of
poverty.
Laolu Akande, Osinbajo’s spokesman, quoted the
vice-president as saying in a statement on Friday.
Three weeks ago, President Muhammadu Buhari set up a
national poverty reduction with growth strategy (NPRGS) steering committee,
following the approval of the federal executive council (FEC) in April.
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the steering committee
in Abuja, Osinbajo said the committee would improve the adoption of
commonsensical approaches in achieving its objectives.
The vice-president said to achieve a different result, the
committee will be intentional about its objectives and how to achieve them.
“I really want us to approach this as much as possible,
commonsensical so that we are able to resolve all the issues and focus on the
real progress,” he said.
“I want us to look beyond all of what we are going to be
doing, there is going to be a considerable amount of paperwork, but a lot of
common sense is what grows economies.
“It’s what other countries have done, not really reinventing
the wheel. So, I want us to focus on those commonsensical things so that we can
actually move forward.”
Citing the example of Bangladesh’s poverty reduction
strategy, osinbajo noted how the country’s manufacturing sector was crucial to
its development.
He said that the committee will consider opportunities in
the agricultural sector and how funding can be provided to explore them.
“Bangladesh actually exports more garments than we export
oil,” he said.
“Countries that have managed to get out of poverty have
created a lot of jobs through industries, and they have developed intentional
strategies.
“We must look at what others have done, the smart things
that other people have done, and adopt,” Osinbajo added.
“I think we really
need to take a deep dive because governments have made several efforts at
poverty alleviation but generally speaking, they have not yielded the sort of
results they should yield, and I think it’s because there is a lot of focus on
documentation and paperwork and very little commonsense approaches.”
Osinbajo explained that the NPRGS is a national strategy
that every tier of government must key into.
He also added that the private sector must also collaborate
with the government to reduce unemployment and lift Nigerians out of poverty.
“I just want to
emphasise that it is a national strategy as opposed to a federal strategy which
is why the steering committee is made up of federal as well as state officials,”
he said.
“Essentially, this effort must also be directed at how to
facilitate private sector creation of jobs. The fact is that there is no way
that the Federal Government or the State Governments can create the number of
jobs that we need.
“We need to take a few broad looks at the features of what
constitutes our present predicaments in terms of job losses and unemployment.”
Members of the steering committee at the meeting include
Kayode Fayemi, Babagana Zulum, and Abdullahi Sule, governors of Ekiti, Borno,
and Nasarawa states, respectively.
Others are Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the
federation; Muhammad Nanono, minister of agriculture; Niyi Adebayo, minister of
industry, trade and investment; Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment;
while Prince Clem Agba, minister of state for budget and national planning,
joined the meeting virtually.
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