President Bola Tinubu has stated that his administration was working assiduously for the economic prosperity of the country.
President Tinubu who stated this on Sunday while addressing the nation said, efforts are ongoing to improve and expand the nation’s national infrastructure and create more opportunities for Nigerians, especially, the youth.
Tinubu noted that the administration has embarked on major infrastructure projects across the country, including roads, bridges, railways, power, and oil and gas developments for the overall benefits of all Nigerians.
“Notably,the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Sokoto-Badagry Highway projects will open up 16 connecting states, creating thousands of jobs and boosting economic output through trade, tourism and cultural integration”, he said.
President Tinubu reaffirmed that the nation’s once-declining oil and gas industry is experiencing a resurgence on the back of the reforms he announced in May 2024 to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act.
“Last month, we increased our oil production to 1.61 million barrels per day, and our gas assets are receiving the attention they deserve. Investors are coming back,and we have already seen two Foreign Direct Investments signed of over half a billion dollars since then”, he noted.
Tinubu said, although blessed with both oil and gas resources, the administration meta country that had been dependent solely on oil-based petrol, neglecting its gas resources to power the economy, and also using her hard-earned foreign exchange to pay for, and subsidise its use.
To address this, he said, “we immediately launched our Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (CNG) to power our transportation economy and bring costs down. This will save over two trillion Naira a month, being used to import PMS and AGO and free up our resources for more investment in healthcare and education”.
He also announced that the administration would be distributing a million kits of extremely low or no cost to commercial vehicles that transport people and goods and who currently consume 80% of the imported PMS and AGO. Noting that the administration has started the distribution of conversion kits and setting up of conversion centres across the country in conjunction with the private sector.
“We believe that this CNG initiative will reduce transportation costs by approximately 60 per cent and help to curb inflation”, he said.
President Tinubu re-emphasised that the administration has shown its commitment to the youth by setting up the student loan scheme, disclosing that to date, about N45.6billion has been processed for payment to students and their respective institutions,therefore, encouraged the youth population to take advantage of the opportunity,noting the release additional N50billion Naira each for NELFUND – the student loan, and Credit Corporation from the proceeds of crime recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He maintained that the administration established the Consumer Credit Corporation with over N200billion to help Nigerians to acquire essential products without the need for immediate cash payments, making life easier for millions of households.
This,according to him, would reduce corruption and eliminate cash and opaquetransactions. Speakingfurther, he said, “we have secured $620million under the Digital and Creative Enterprises (IDiCE) – a programme to empower our young people, creating millions of IT and technical jobs that will make them globally competitive.These programmes include the 3Million Technical Talents scheme.
“Unfortunately,one of the digital centres was vandalised during the protests in Kano. What ashame!”, he said.
While highlighting other interventions so far made, President said, “more than N570billion has been released to the 36 states to expand livelihood support to their citizens, while 600,000 nano-businesses have benefitted from our nano-grants. An additional 400,000 more nano-businesses are expected to benefit.
“Furthermore,75,000 beneficiaries have been processed to receive our N1million Micro and Small Business single-digit interest loans, starting this month. We have also built 10 MSME hubs within the past year, created 240,000 jobs through them and 5 more hubs are in progress which will be ready by October this year.
“Payments of N1billion each are also being made to large manufacturers under our single-digit loans to boost manufacturing output and stimulate growth.
“I signed the National Minimum Wage into law last week, and the lowest-earningworkers will now earn at least N70,000 a month.
“Sixmonths ago in Karsana, Abuja, I inaugurated the first phase of our ambitious housing initiative, the Renewed Hope City and Estate. This project is the first of six we have planned across the nation’s geopolitical zones. Each of these cities will include a minimum of 1,000 housing units, with Karsana itself set to deliver 3,212 units.
“In addition to these city projects, we are also launching the Renewed Hope Estates in every state, each comprising 500 housing units. Our goal is to complete a total of 100,000 housing units over the next three years. This initiative is not only about providing homes but also about creating thousands of jobs across the nation as well as stimulating economic growth”, he said.
