By Ahmed Idris
The prudent management of resources by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has helped it achieve far more in terms of infrastructure and development than previous administrations, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said at the weekend.
Osinbajo, who disclosed this at a public lecture organized by the Council of Chief of Imams, Ikeja Division, in Lagos, the administration has invested heavily on social protection, the largest in the country’s history.
The Vice President said the administration has dealt with the issue of corruption, which he said was a major challenge which had slowed the country’s development in the past.
He said the federal government has spent over N2.7 trillion on capital expenditure in the last three years, pointing out that it is the highest amount ever spent on capital in the history of Nigeria.
Osinbajo listed some of the infrastructure projects to include Lagos-Kano Standard Gauge Railway, the Lagos-Ibadan Dual Carriageway and the Second Niger Bridge.
“Despite earning 60% less revenue, we are spending more on infrastructure in this government, from roads, rails to power,” he said.
The Vice President also said that components of the administration’s Social Investment Programme have impacted the lives of millions of Nigerians, adding that through the N-Power Programme, 500,000 young graduates have been engaged in different areas of public service.
He said similar successes have been recorded in the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme, GEEP (which includes the TraderMoni Scheme), the Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT, and the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, which currently feeds over nine million public primary school pupils in 26 states.
Speaking on the impact of the TraderMoni scheme – the N10,000 interest- and collateral-free loans to petty traders nationwide, the Vice President said two million petty traders nationwide will benefit from the microcredit scheme by the end of the year.
