Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The presidency has released a fact sheet outlining the achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in three years.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, explained that the 41-page document highlights the administration’s successes in the economy, security and the fight against corruption, the three cardinal areas his administration pledged to focus on.
“The document is organised into the following sections: Resetting the Economy; Restoring Growth, Growing What We Eat; Making Business Work; Doing More With Less; Investing In People; New Vision for the Niger Delta; Plugging Leakages; and Justice Reforms,” Shehu said.
“The fact sheet, which will be updated regularly, showcases improving economic indices, rising investment in agriculture and infrastructure, successes in the fight against terrorism, and ongoing efforts to improve security in the North Central.
“In addition, it lists the several measures taken to promote transparency and accountability in government finances,” the Presidential Media aide added.
Some of the highlights include that: Nigeria’s economy is back on the path of growth under Buhari, after the recession of 2016-17 (1.95 percent growth in Q1 2018).
It added that the present administration’s priority sectors — agriculture and solid minerals — maintained consistent growth throughout the recession.
Inflation has fallen for the fifteenth (15th) consecutive month, from 18.7 percent in January 2017 to 12.5 percent as of April 2018.
External reserves of US$47.5 billion are the highest in 5 years and double the size as of October 2016.
Total exports in 2017 were 59.47% higher than for 2016.
The first quarter of 2018 saw the fourth consecutive quarterly increase in capital importation since Q2 2017. The total value of capital imported in the quarter stood at US$6.3 billion, which is a year-on-year increase of 594.03%, and a 17.11% growth over the figure reported in the previous quarter.
The new FX window introduced by the CBN in April 2017, now sees an average of US$1 billion in weekly turnover, and has attracted about US$25 billion in inflows in its first year (and a total turnover of $47.14 billion) – signalling rising investor confidence in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s stock market ended 2017 as one of the best-performing in the world, with returns in excess of 40 percent.
Five million new taxpayers added to the tax base since 2016, as part of efforts to diversify Government revenues.
Tax revenue increased to N1.17 Trillion in Q1 2018, a 51% increase on the Q1 2017 figure.
N2.7 trillion spent on Infrastructure in 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, an unprecedented allocation in Nigeria’s recent history.
Fourteen moribund Blending Plants revitalized so far under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI); with a total capacity of 2.3 million MT of NPK fertilizer.
In May 2018, the federal government launched the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), under the management of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority. The PIDF is kicking off with seed funding of US$1.3 billion.
Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) in March 2018 invested US$10m to establish a world-class Cancer Treatment Centre at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), and US$5m each in the Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital and the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, to establish modern diagnostic centres. These centres should be completed before the end of 2018.
The Buhari administration issued a N100 billion Sukuk Bond in 2017, Nigeria’s first sovereign Sukuk Bond. Proceeds from that Bond are funding 25 major road projects across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.