President Bola Tinubu said he acknowledged that the situation in the country is not enabling, still, he admonished that the socio-economic challenges of today should energise and rekindle the love and faith in the promise of Nigeria.
Tinubu made the admonition on Monday, in his New Year nationwide speech.
Tinubu pointed out that the current circumstances should make the country resolve to work better for the “good of our beloved nation”, adding that the situation should make Nigerians resolve that this new year 2024, “each and everyone of us will commit to be better citizens”.
He noted: “Silently, we have worked to free captives from abductors. While we can’t beat our chest yet that we have solved all the security problems, we are working hard to ensure that we all have peace of mind in our homes, places of work and on the roads.
“Having laid the groundwork of our economic recovery plans within the last seven months of 2023, we are now poised to accelerate the pace of our service delivery across sectors”.
Tinubu recalled that in December last year – during COP28 in Dubai, he and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, agreed and committed to a new deal to speed up the delivery of the Siemens Energy power project that will ultimately deliver reliable supply of electricity to Nigerian homes and businesses under the Presidential Power Initiative which began in 2018.
The President restated: “Other power installation projects to strengthen the reliability of our transmission lines and optimise the integrity of our National grid are ongoing across the country.
“My administration recognises that no meaningful economic transformation can happen without steady electricity supply. In 2024, we are moving a step further in our quest to restart local refining of petroleum products with Port Harcourt Refinery, and the Dangote Refinery which shall fully come on stream.
“To ensure constant food supply, security and affordability, we will step up our plan to cultivate 500,000 hectares of farmlands across the country to grow maize, rice, wheat, millet and other staple crops. We launched the dry season farming with 120,000 hectares of land in Jigawa State last November under our National Wheat Development Programme.
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“In this new year, we will race against time to ensure all the fiscal and tax policies reforms we need to put in place are codified and simplified to ensure the business environment does not destroy value. On every foreign trip I have embarked on, my message to investors and other business people has been the same. Nigeria is ready and open for business.
“I will fight every obstacle that impedes business competitiveness in Nigeria and I will not hesitate to remove any clog hindering our path to making Nigeria a destination of choice for local and foreign investments”