by Bosun Awoniyi
LAGOS, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari pledged on Wednesday to continue laying foundations in 2020 for taking 100 million Nigerians out of poverty over the next 10 years.
In a letter addressed to Nigerians to usher in 2020 and a new decade, Buhari said his administration will create new opportunities in key sectors to address the challenges of poverty among citizens of the west African country in the new year.
At the launch of his eight-member Economic Advisory Council in October 2019 in Abuja, Buhari directed the council to work toward alleviating poverty, saying the "goal is to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years."
He said though Nigeria came out of recession in 2017, the "economic growth rate was still not fast enough to meet our national ambition of collective prosperity."
Some 93.7 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty, according to the 2019 World Poverty Clock, a data-gathering team that monitors the global progress against poverty. This year's figure is 6.8 million higher than in 2018.
In June 2018, the group named Nigeria the world poverty capital after it overtook India.
"Today I restate that commitment. We shall continue reforms in education, healthcare and water sanitation," Buhari said in his New Year speech, adding his government will seek support from international and domestic partners on the country's social welfare programs.
Buhari said he would continue to build roads, fix the electricity grid and improve other infrastructure.
He said the government will complete 47 ongoing road projects and major bridges in 2020 and that 13 housing estates under the National Housing Project Plan would be completed in the new year.
Buhari also reiterated his support for agriculture, adding that an agricultural rural mechanization scheme that would cover 700 local governments over a period of three years would also be inaugurated this year.
He said his administration would also realize increased value from oil and gas, delivering a more competitive, attractive and profitable industry, operating on commercial principles and free from political interference.
Buhari said his administration has engaged extensively with stakeholders to develop a series of comprehensive solutions to improve the reliability and availability of electricity across the country.
These solutions include ensuring fiscal sustainability for the sector, increasing both government and private-sector investment in the power transmission and distribution segments, improving payment transparency through the deployment of smart meters, and ensuring regulatory actions that maximize service delivery.
"We look forward as a nation to the 2020 as the opportunity to build on the foundations we have laid together on security, diversification of our economy and taking on the curse of corruption," Buhari said.
He said the government's policies are working, and the results will continue to show foreign investors that Nigeria is a tremendous market offering "extraordinary opportunities and returns."
