Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu outlined about 29 significant policy achievements of his administration in a passionate speech to the Nation on August 4th 2024.
Emphasizing fiscal reforms, economic resurgence, and social welfare improvements, the detailed address highlighted the government’s efforts in various sectors to stimulate growth, reduce debt burdens, and improve the living standards of Nigerians.
While the speech did not address specific key performance indicators that can be tied to the policies, the president reeled out several initiatives that his administration has put together to address the economic challenges.
TheWitness curated some of the policies as extracted from the speech.
Doubling Government Revenues: “Aggregate government revenues have more than doubled, hitting over 9.1 trillion Naira in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023 due to our efforts at blocking leakages, introducing automation and mobilising funding creatively without additional burden on the people.”
Reducing Debt Service Burden: “We have reduced the percentage of revenue spent on debt service from 97% to 68% in the last 13 months, and cleared legitimate outstanding foreign exchange obligations of about $5 billion without any adverse impact on our programmes.”
Reviving the Oil and Gas Industry: “Our once-declining oil and gas industry is experiencing a resurgence, with oil production increasing to 1.61 million barrels per day and gas assets receiving the attention they deserve, following the reforms announced in May 2024 to address gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act.”
Attracting Foreign Direct Investments: “Investors are returning, evidenced by two Foreign Direct Investments signed worth over half a billion dollars since our reforms.”
Launching the CNG Initiative: “To power our transportation economy and reduce costs, we launched the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Initiative, which will save over two trillion Naira monthly used to import PMS and AGO, freeing up resources for healthcare and education.”
Distributing Conversion Kits for CNG: “We are distributing a million low-cost or free conversion kits to commercial vehicles that currently consume 80% of the imported PMS and AGO.”
Reducing Transportation Costs: “The CNG initiative, including the setup of conversion centres in conjunction with the private sector, will reduce transportation costs by approximately 60% and help curb inflation.”
Supporting Youth with Student Loans: “Our administration has demonstrated its commitment to youth by establishing a student loan scheme, with 45.6 billion Naira already processed for payment to students and their institutions.”
Creating Consumer Credit Corporation: “We established the Consumer Credit Corporation with over N200 billion to help Nigerians acquire essential products without immediate cash payments, thereby reducing corruption and eliminating cash and opaque transactions.”
Funding Student Loans and Credit Corporation: “This week, I ordered the release of an additional N50 billion Naira each for the student loan and Credit Corporation from the proceeds of crime recovered by the EFCC.”
Empowering Youth in Digital and Creative Sectors: “We secured $620 million under the Digital and Creative Enterprises (IDiCE) program, aimed at creating millions of IT and technical jobs for the youth, including the 3Million Technical Talents scheme.”
Introducing Skill-Up Artisans Programme (SUPA): “We introduced the Skill-Up Artisans Programme (SUPA) to enhance the skills of our youth.”
Launching the Nigerian Youth Academy (NIYA): “The Nigerian Youth Academy (NIYA) has been established to further empower our young people.”
Starting the National Youth Talent Export Programme (NATEP): “We initiated the National Youth Talent Export Programme (NATEP) to make our youth globally competitive.”
Supporting Nano-Businesses: “More than N570 billion has been released to the 36 states to expand livelihood support to their citizens, with 600,000 nano-businesses benefitting from our nano-grants and an additional 400,000 more expected to benefit.”
Providing Micro and Small Business Loans: “75,000 beneficiaries have been processed to receive our N1 million Micro and Small Business single-digit interest loans starting this month.”
Building MSME Hubs: “We have built 10 MSME hubs within the past year, creating 240,000 jobs, and five more hubs are in progress, set to be ready by October this year.”
Boosting Manufacturing Output: “Payments of N1 billion each are being made to large manufacturers under our single-digit loans to boost manufacturing output and stimulate growth.”
Raising the National Minimum Wage: “I signed the National Minimum Wage into law last week, ensuring the lowest-earning workers will now earn at least N70,000 a month.”
Initiating the Renewed Hope City and Estate Project: “Six months ago in Karsana, Abuja, I inaugurated the first phase of our ambitious housing initiative, the Renewed Hope City and Estate, the first of six planned across the nation’s geopolitical zones, each including a minimum of 1,000 housing units.”
Launching Renewed Hope Estates Nationwide: “In addition to the city projects, we are launching the Renewed Hope Estates in every state, each comprising 500 housing units, with a goal to complete a total of 100,000 housing units over the next three years.”
Providing Incentives to Farmers: “We are providing incentives to farmers to increase food production at affordable prices.”
Removing Tariffs on Essential Imports: “I have directed that tariffs and other import duties should be removed on rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, drugs, and other pharmaceutical and medical supplies for the next six months to help drive down prices.”
Distributing Fertilizers and Increasing Cultivation: “We have distributed fertilizers and our target is to cultivate more than 10 million hectares of land to grow what we eat, with the Federal Government providing necessary incentives and states providing the land.”
Importing Mechanized Farming Equipment: “We have ordered mechanized farming equipment such as tractors and planters worth billions of Naira from the United States, Belarus, and Brazil, which are on the way.”
Establishing the National Youth Talent Export Programme: “We launched the National Youth Talent Export Programme (NATEP) to create opportunities for our young talent.”
