…Says ‘Nigeria is moving forward despite challenges’
…’2.5m farmers benefitted from FG’s agric intervention programmes’ – Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari, while commemorating June 12 Democracy Day yesterday, said the country’s security challenges would be surmounted.
In a nationwide broadcast early yesterday morning, the President said the unintended consequences of defeating the insurgency in the North-East are what the country was facing, posing a more onerous challenge.
He explained that after driving out and defeating insurgents from their hideout, they have now moved in-country, and are the reason for the unintended insecurity in the country.
He lamented that some persons have leveraged on these challenges for their selfish reasons, stressing that the government would also meet these issues headlong and bring them to an end.
Maintaining security, with its butterfly effect of peace, thereby making Nigeria a prosperous country, where youth are gainfully employed and children are safe, would continue to be the bedrock of the present administration, the President stated.
Buhari also disclosed that 2.5 million farmers have been financed under his administration’s various agricultural intervention programmes, cultivating about 3.2 million hectres of
farmland all over the country and created 10 million direct and indirect jobs.
He said some of the agricultural intervention programmes include the Agri-business/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme; Non-oil export Stimulation Facility and targeted credit facilities operated across the 774 local government areas.
Regarding his administration’s contribution to other sectors, Buhari said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Bank of Industry (BoI)’s N200 billion facility financed the establishment and operations of 60 new industrial hubs across the country, creating an estimated 890,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The president further said his administration is doing its best in ensuring economic stability despite scarce resources and a galloping population growth rate that consistently outstrips the capacity to provide jobs for our populace.
