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Independence Day Address By President Muhammadu Buhari

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Independence Day Address

Independence Day Handle By President Muhammadu Buhari.

INDEPENDENCE DAY ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA ON THE OCCASION OF NIGERIA’S SIXTY FIRST INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY, FRIDAY 1ST OCTOBER, 2021.

Residents of Nigeria.

It’s with full gratitude to God that at present, we have a good time Nigeria’s sixty first Independence Anniversary.

For 1st of October 1960 to occur, all palms have been on deck. East, West, North all got here collectively to have a good time freedom. Right now mustn’t solely function a reminder of the day the British handed over the reins of energy to Nigerians, but in addition unified Nigerians from all ethnic teams, religions and areas.

Right now, regardless of the challenges we face, most Nigerians nonetheless preserve the spirit of 1st October. That optimistic outlook and willpower to make Nigeria a peaceable and affluent nation. It is because of this collective angle that Nigeria doggedly continues to stay a united and indivisible nation.

Fellow Nigerians, the previous eighteen months have been a few of the most tough intervals within the historical past of Nigeria. Because the civil battle, I doubt whether or not we now have seen a interval of extra heightened challenges than what we now have witnessed on this interval.

Our unique priorities for 2020 have been to proceed stabilising our financial system following the deep recession whereas restoring peace in areas confronted with safety challenges. However the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impression on all nations meant we wanted to shift gears and re-strategise.

Nigerians got here collectively as one to struggle towards COVID-19. It’s this angle and by the particular grace of God, we proceed to outlive the pandemic as a nation and certainly, present management and instance at regional and worldwide ranges.

The doomsday situation predicted for our nation by no means got here. Even because the Delta variant continues to unfold, we now have constructed the capability we have to reply now and into the longer term.

I’ll due to this fact attraction to Nigerians to not take COVID evenly, adhere to public well being and social measures, put your masks on and get vaccinated. We will management this pandemic, however it requires effort on all people’s half. The investments we made in response to COVID-19 can even serve our nation to sort out any future illness outbreaks or pandemics.

Regardless of the worldwide inequity in entry to vaccines, the Authorities of Nigeria has continued to discover all accessible choices to make sure Nigerians have free entry to secure and efficient vaccines.

Some 5 million vaccine doses have been administered to Nigerians via efforts led by the Nationwide Main Well being Care Improvement Company and we’ll proceed to discover choices for buy or acquisition of vaccines comparable to via COVAX and the African Vaccine Acquisition Belief.

I’ll take this chance to remind the worldwide neighborhood that the present state of entry to COVID-19 vaccines is unacceptable. We can not afford a state of affairs the place a handful of nations preserve the worldwide vaccine provide to themselves on the expense of different nations.

We should act now to speed up equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. That is the message I conveyed to the worldwide neighborhood in New York final week.

As we push to supply vaccines for our speedy wants, we will make investments extra to help our pharmaceutical and analysis businesses to give you concepts for domestically developed vaccines. Ought to one other pandemic come up sooner or later, Our query is easy; will Nigeria be prepared?

Accordingly, I’ve directed the Ministries of Finance, Finances and Nationwide Planning, Well being, Schooling and Science and Know-how to work with Nigerian and Worldwide pharmaceutical firms and analysis organisations to boost Nigeria’s home pharmaceutical capability.

Already, the Nigerian Sovereign Funding Authority is elevating a $200 million fund for this initiative that may complement the Central Financial institution of Nigeria’s ongoing N85 billion Healthcare Sector Analysis and Improvement Intervention Scheme to help native researchers within the improvement of vaccines and medicines to fight communicable and non-communicable illnesses, together with COVID-19.

Fellow Nigerians, that is just the start.

Equally, on our strategy to meals safety, I’m proud to announce Nigeria has commenced its journey to pharmaceutical independence.

This journey, which can take years to realize however will finally end in Nigerian primarily based firms growing the Energetic Pharmaceutical substances and competence wanted for us to make our personal medication and vaccines.

Fellow Nigerians,

As our financial system continues to open after the COVID-19 associated lockdowns, we now have additionally seen the resurgence of insecurity in sure elements of the nation.

Within the final 4 months, the gallant women and men of the Navy and Safety Companies have made large progress in addressing these new safety challenges. We’re taking the struggle to our enemies from all angles and we’re successful.

Earlier this yr, I launched the Built-in Nationwide Safety and Waterways Safety Infrastructure, the Deep Blue Undertaking, which is designed to safe Nigerian waters as much as the Gulf of Guinea. I’m blissful to tell Nigerians that we now have taken supply of key property for this venture and really quickly, its impression might be felt.

Within the North East area alone, over eight thousand Boko Haram terrorists have surrendered.

To help our surge strategy to combating banditry, the Nigerian Armed Forces have recruited over 17,000 personnel throughout all ranks. Moreover, I’ve additionally authorised for the Nigerian Police Pressure to recruit 10,000 law enforcement officials yearly over the subsequent six years.

I’m additionally happy to notice that a lot of the Air Pressure platforms we acquired over the previous three years have began to reach in Nigeria. These will positively impression our safety operations in all elements of the nation.

According to part 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Structure (as amended), the safety and welfare of Nigerians proceed to be the prime concentrate on which programmes and initiatives of our authorities revolves.

Due to this fact, as a Authorities, we’re able to arrest and prosecute all individuals inciting violence via phrases or motion. Our resolve for a peaceable, united and one Nigeria stays resolute and unwavering.

That mentioned, our hope is to not struggle for peace. We will at all times settle our grievances peacefully with out spilling any blood.

I’ll due to this fact take this chance, on this big day that symbolises the unity and oneness of our nice nation, to ask all Nigerians to embrace peace and dialogue, no matter your grievances.

The seeds of violence are planted in individuals’s heads via phrases. Reckless utterances of some have led to losses of many harmless lives and destruction of properties.

Such unfiltered and unsubstantiated lies and hate speeches by a number of evil individuals should be stopped. Our media homes and commentators should transfer away from simply reporting irresponsible remarks to investigating the reality behind all statements and presenting the information to readers.

We should all come out and communicate towards the lies being peddled. At this level, I’d need to sincerely recognize the big variety of our Conventional, Non secular and Group leaders in addition to different well-meaning Nigerians who, of their varied fora are brazenly spreading the message of peaceable co-existence and battle settlement via dialogue of their respective communities.

Nigeria is for all of us. Its unity isn’t negotiable. And its final success can solely be achieved if all of us come along with a typical aim of getting peace and prosperity for our nation.

We will proceed to work on dialogue primarily based options to handle legit grievances. However we stay able to take decisive actions towards secessionist agitators and their sponsors who threaten our nationwide safety.

The current arrests of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Adeyemo, and the continuing investigations being carried out have revealed sure high-profile financiers behind these people. We’re vigorously pursuing these financiers together with one recognized as a serving member of the nationwide meeting.

Independence Day Address

Independence Day Handle

Independence Day Handle

Independence Day Handle

Fellow Nigerians,

It is a clear instance of how individuals abandon their nationwide management positions for his or her egocentric positive factors. As a substitute of preaching unity, they’re funding and deceptive our youth to conduct felony acts that typically result in unlucky and pointless lack of lives and property.

Because the so-called leaders run overseas to cover, our harmless youths are misled and left within the streets to struggle for his or her mindless and damaging causes.

Authorities will proceed, with better degree of peoples’ participation and in collaboration with our worldwide companions, to enhance the safety structure, scale back enabling surroundings for criminality to thrive and eradicate alternatives for terrorism financing.

Fellow Nigerians, our unrelenting effort at resolving an virtually two-decade stalling on the administration of our Petroleum assets and making certain equitable consideration to our host communities has resulted within the enactment of the Petroleum Trade Act, 2021.

This Act not solely overhauls the Institutional, regulatory and financial framework of the Petroleum Trade but in addition reduces the earlier opacity related to this sector.

This is step one to the reforms as the method is a steady one. Already, to additional enhance the governance framework, I’ve looked for an modification of sections 11(2)(b) and 34(2)(b). We can even proceed to evaluation and amend as applicable.

At this juncture, it is rather applicable that I salute the management and members of the Ninth Meeting for his or her patriotism, dedication to responsibility, candour and most significantly the dispatch with which they’ve enacted legacy legislations for this nation. I don’t take such degree of cooperation without any consideration and hope it continues for the general effectivity of the Federal equipment.

Nigeria’s Roadmap on Native Refining is on monitor with the Commissioning of a Modular refinery in Imo State.

A second is scheduled for commissioning by the tip of this yr in Edo State and the third one in Bayelsa State by 2022.

Along with the modular initiatives, we even have the 2 mega refinery initiatives developing in Lagos and Akwa Ibom States.

As these refineries are commissioned, extra employment alternatives are created and there could be elevated petroleum merchandise accessible for native consumption which can considerably scale back our reliance on importation.

In additional demonstrating our plan to cut back our dependence on oil and tapping from our monumental fuel assets, this administration stays dedicated to the “Decade of Fuel” Initiative, which is geared toward bringing to focus the utilization of our enormous fuel assets.

Already, we’re supporting and selling varied gas-based initiatives together with NLNG Practice 7 and the mega urea and ammonia initiatives within the South-South area.

As we proceed to optimise and improve our oil and fuel sector, I’m additionally proud and delighted to state that our financial diversification technique stays heading in the right direction with the persistent enhance in Non-Oil Sector contribution to GDP.

We recovered from financial recession in quarter 4 of 2020 with a GDP development fee of 0.11%, and grew by 0.51% and 5.01% in actual phrases within the first and second quarters of 2021.

The Agricultural sector stays key to our financial diversification efforts because the sector has been a constant driver of the non-oil sector contributing 22.35% and 23.78% to the general GDP within the first and second quarter of 2021.

We have now seen important personal sector investments in virtually all areas of the agricultural worth chain. And these have continued even through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sadly, as our meals manufacturing capability has elevated, meals costs have been going up on account of synthetic shortages created by middlemen who’ve been shopping for and hoarding these important commodities for profiteering.

To handle this, I’m hereby directing the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Improvement to rehabilitate the Nationwide Meals Reserve Company and in addition work with safety businesses, the Nigerian Commodity Alternate, and the Nationwide Meeting to discover a lasting answer to those disruptive and unpatriotic hoarding actions.

To additional improve meals manufacturing, we now have accomplished a number of new dams and are within the technique of rehabilitating a number of River Basin Improvement Authorities to boost floor water provide for rainfed agriculture in addition to floor water for irrigation agriculture.

The water initiatives we accomplished between 2015 to 2020 have improved Nigerian’s entry to potable water to 71% between 2015 and 2020. This implies 12.5 million further Nigerians now have direct entry to potable water.

Fellow Nigerians,

This Authorities stays involved by the numerous transportation infrastructure deficit we now have. Addressing the challenges our commuters and lorry drivers face on the motorways continues to be a excessive precedence to us.

To enrich our budgetary allocations, the Presidential Infrastructure Improvement Fund and the Highway Infrastructure Improvement and Refurbishment Funding Tax Credit score Scheme, we not too long ago established a N15trillion Infrastructural Company of Nigeria Restricted (INFRACO), which is anticipated to start operation by the fourth quarter of this yr.

INFRACO can even concentrate on leveraging assets on a public-private sector foundation for infrastructural improvement in Nigeria.

We hope via these modern packages, the extra price burden on people and companies due to inefficient logistics operations might be decreased and finally, eradicated.

We presently have over 13,000 kilometres of roads and bridges below development all around the nation of which a good share have been accomplished.

As we repair our roads, we additionally proceed to increase and improve Nigeria’s railway community with the notable opening of the Warri- Itakpe normal gauge rail line.

To extend capability, we now have launched extra locomotives, coaches and wagons together with the institution of a Wagon Meeting in Kajola, Ogun State.

The ocean ports nonetheless nonetheless stay problematic. The impact of our varied interventions to cut back the gridlocks and inefficiencies have been slower than anticipated.

Nonetheless, the implementation of the Digital Name-Up System in addition to the conversion of the Lillypond Container Terminal to a Car Transit Space will additional improve the convenience of cargo evacuation.

Our prioritisation of growing Nigeria’s Digital Financial system has positively impacted the contribution of the ICT sector to our GDP.

We hope our current efforts to make sure all Nigerians use a Nationwide Identification Quantity in addition to our deliberate roll-out of the fifth era (5G) community expertise will guarantee we keep in keeping with the worldwide innovation curve as a Nation.

As we embrace the digital financial system in Nigeria, we’re totally conscious of the prospects and the perils. Our insurance policies have been developed to allow Nigerians to reap the benefits of the prospects and keep away from the perils of digital applied sciences.

Social media is a really helpful platform that has enabled hundreds of thousands of Nigerians to attach with family members, promote their companies, socialise, and entry information and different info.

Nonetheless, current occasions have proven that the platform isn’t just an innocuous platform for info dissemination.

Somewhat some customers have misused the platform to organise, coordinate, and execute felony actions, propagate pretend information, and promote ethnic and non secular sentiments.

To handle these unfavourable traits, the Federal Authorities of Nigeria suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria on June 5, 2021 to permit the Authorities put measures in place to handle these challenges.

Following the suspension of Twitter operations, Twitter Inc. reached out to the Federal Authorities of Nigeria to resolve the deadlock. Subsequently, I constituted a Presidential Committee to have interaction Twitter to discover the potential for resolving the problem.

The Committee, together with its Technical Staff, has engaged with Twitter and have addressed a variety of key points. These are:

a. Nationwide Safety and Cohesion;

b. Registration, Bodily presence and Illustration;

c. Truthful Taxation;

d. Dispute Decision; and

e. Native Content material.

Following the intensive engagements, the problems are being addressed and I’ve directed that the suspension be lifted however provided that the situations are met to permit our residents proceed using the platform for enterprise and optimistic engagements.

As a rustic, we’re dedicated to making sure that digital firms use their platform to boost the lives of our residents, respect Nigeria’s sovereignty, cultural values and promote on-line security.

Nigeria’s progressive diplomacy continues to manifest via rising numbers of extremely positioned Nigerians in positions of regional and world influences. Very not too long ago, Nigeria received election for the place of Commissioner for the expanded Political, Peace and Safety Affairs of the African Union.

Our persistent requires a reorganized and reformed ECOWAS, to make the group citizens-sensitive, paid off with the acceptance by the Authority of Heads of State and Governments of ECOWAS to begin the agreed reforms within the group forward of the subsequent elections of the group’s principal officers in December this yr.

On the African Improvement Financial institution, World Commerce Group and certainly, the United Nations, footprints of Nigeria’s Diplomacy are clearly evident.

We stay assured that our aim of lifting 100million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years is achievable.

Contemplating the optimistic impression of our Social Funding Applications, I not too long ago authorised a rise within the variety of N-Energy program beneficiaries from 500,000 to 1,000,000.

Out of this, 510,000 have began the programme whereas the aggressive choice course of for onboarding the excellent 490,000 beneficiaries is in progress.

The Nationwide Residence-Grown Faculty Feeding Programme is presently being applied in 35 States of the Federation and the FCT. Over 103,000 girls have been engaged and empowered as cooks below the programme, whereas about 10 million pupils are being fed throughout public major faculties within the nation.

To grant elevated entry to credit score to probably the most poor and susceptible, I’ve directed a rise within the disbursement of Authorities Enterprise and Empowerment Programme loans to a further a million beneficiaries laying extra emphasis on the smallholding farmers via the farmers Moni program.

Fellow Nigerians,

For much too lengthy we now have uncared for the centrality of the civil service because the engine of governance and this has manifested in ineffective service supply.

There may be widespread discontent and disillusion in regards to the effectivity and probity of our civil service.

It is for that reason that we’re refocusing the Nigerian Civil Service to offer World class service to run our nation.

The youths of this nice nation stay propellants for our at present and present ensures that we’d have a safe tomorrow.

 

Independence Day Handle

Independence Day Handle

Independence Day Handle