Social investment programme, digital economy, improved business environment top Buhari administration’s achievments

Reflecting on the achievements of the Buhari administration over the past 7 years, the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs), digital economy and ease of doing business reforms, rank high among gains recorded by government during the period.

This was the view of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, on Monday in Abuja at the Ministerial Retreat organised to evaluate the progress made in the implementation of the agenda of the Buhari Administration.

He spoke on the topic “The President Muhammadu Administration, Reflections On The Journey So Far”.

Reflecting on the overall lessons over the past years, the VP said, “our experience has shown that it is quite possible to run large-scale programmes for the benefit of ordinary Nigerians in a fair and transparent manner.

“Using technology reduced the problems of human agency and discretion. Running such large programmes fairly goes a long way in encouraging ordinary Nigerians to believe and trust in the Government they voted into power.”
Speaking specifically on the implementation of the SIPs, Prof. Osinbajo said “the fourth game-changing achievement of our government is the Social Investment Programme. This is an important ideological and policy statement for our party and government.”

Justifying the adoption of the policy, the VP said “we took the view from the inception of the government that especially in a largely poor society must provide well-thought-out social safety nets, for the poorest and most vulnerable and interventions for the young unemployed.”

The VP added that aside the School Feeding Programme for public primary schools, now feeding close to 10 million school children across the country, “the award-winning microcredit scheme for informal traders under the Government Enterprises and Empowerment Programme, the likes of TraderMoni, FarmerMoni MarketMoni e.t.c.,” represents a major the achievement of the administration.

He listed “interventions for the young unemployed population through the N-Power programme, beginning with the employment of 500,000 and now with presidential approval engagement of 1 million, and creation of aNational Social Register with 46 million persons in over 11 million poor and vulnerable households from across the Federation,” as other high-flying achievements of the administration.

In the area of digital economy, Prof. Osinbajo noted that “the rapid expansion of Broadband access” and birthing of “6 Unicorns in the midst of two recessions”, underline the impact of the administration’s efforts in the area.

According to the VP, “In August 2019, the broadband coverage was 33.7% and today it is 44.65%, representing close to 13 million new broadband users. There were 13,823 4G base stations and we now have 36,751, representing a 165.86% increase. The percentage of 4G coverage across the country also increased from 23% to 77.52%.
“Between 2015 and now, in the midst of two recessions, Nigeria now has 6 Unicorns. These are digital companies valued at over $1 billion each, at least one of them is valued at $3billion, bigger than most Nigerian Banks. These include the companies Flutterwave, O-Pay, Andela, Interswitch, Jumia, Piggyvest and Paystack.”