Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo on Monday assured Nigerians that they will witness “significant improvement” in two years if the government sticks to its plans.
“If we stick to our agenda in the next two years, we will see the most significant improvements, in our power sector,” Osinbajo said while delivering the convocation lecture ahead of the 50th anniversary of the University of Lagos.
“I may begin by affirming the belief of the Buhari administration that Nigeria’s prosperity means a decent existence for all.
“Second, that prosperity so defined will be attained if we are able to address the issues of extreme poverty, productivity, corruption, the rule of law and the deficiencies in the quality of human resources caused by poor education and healthcare.
“We must have a robust enough healthcare system that ensures that the average person is in good health, an educational system that guarantees education capable of preparing children for the opportunities and challenges of a knowledge economy.
“In planning the path to prosperity we also took into account the age-old weaknesses of the Nigerian economy and the illusion of prosperity that frequently distorts our understanding of the actual fragility of our economy,” he further stated.
The Vice President said from the onset, it was clear to the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari that it needed to devise an economic plan that prioritised the basic issues with the Nigerian economy.
“For us, we needed to prioritize; the building of infrastructure especially rail, roads, power and ports; productivity as we diversified the economy from oil and gas; the fight against public sector corruption; developing a new educational curriculum that emphasizes Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths.
“Others include; adopting a new approach to resourcing healthcare; putting in place a social investment programme that deals with issues of extreme poverty and unemployment. Our Economic Recovery and Growth Plan effectively addressed these issues,” he said.
He assured Nigerians that with the integrity of President Buhari and the commitment of his administration, Nigeria would not derail from its path to prosperity.