Buhari To Give Primary School Pupils Free Meals-Osibajo

Vice- President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo said the
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration
would soon commence giving primary school
children free meals.
The vice president said the free feeding scheme
was a core project of the Federal Government that
would in turn yield about 1.14 million jobs and
increase in food production. Osinbajo said this at
the 45th Annual Accountants Conference in Abuja.
He said the government would be investing more
in the people, education and job creation.
Speaking on the topic “Repositioning Nigeria for
Sustainable Development: From Rhetoric to
Performance,” Osinbajo said that the multiplier
effects of the introduction of the school feeding
scheme would help to create 1.14 million new
jobs; increase food production by up to 530,000
metric tonnes per annum, as well as attract fresh
investments up to N980bn.
He said, “One of the most important interventions
required in the education sector is capacity
building to improve teacher quality.
“This programme is intended to drive teachers’
capacity development; boost basic education;
attract talents to the teaching profession. Better
educated population increases economic potential
for productivity.”
“The All Progressives Congress has made a
commitment to provide one-meal-a-day for all
primary school students; that would create jobs in
agriculture, including poultry, catering and
delivery services.”
The vice president decried the high rate of
employment in the country in spite of the fact that
Nigeria had recorded high oil prices, Gross
Domestic Product and foreign reserves during the
previous administrations.
This, according to him, has made it clear that such
figures, including a rise in revenue by itself, do not
create jobs or significantly reduce poverty level in
the country.
“So, why are most (of our people) poor despite
rising revenues and GDP growth? Our main
revenue earners, the extractive oil and gas
economy, do not by themselves create many jobs.
Such is the irony of a top-down economic model;
when the major revenue earner is extractive and
the value chain is poorly developed,” he argued.
Osinbajo also said there was need for the
government to improve the power sector and have
a one-stop shop for approvals of investments.
Other areas of focus in the Buhari economic plan,
as espoused by his deputy, are innovation and
fighting piracy; diversification of the economy in
the areas of agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency
in rice and wheat (staples) production;
manufacturing; entertainment and technology.
On the power sector, he noted that “despite the
challenges, there have been measurable
improvements over the past three months (June to
August 2015).”
He said, for instance, there had been a 26 per cent
increase in operational generation capacity (June
to August 15, 2015 compared to January to May
2015); decrease in pipeline vandalism, boosting of
gas supply; and a 10 per cent reduction in
transmission losses.
Other achievements in the sector, he said,
included reduction in red tape to remove delays;
blocking the 450MW Azura-Edo IPP and the
500MW Exxon Mobil Qua-Iboe IPP; and the
imposition of a September 2015 deadline for the
submission of the DisCos’ revised tariff
trajectories.
The vice president said there was no going back
on the Treasury Single Account policy of the
Federal Government, saying the TSA would
address issues of non-transparency, especially
among revenue generating agencies.
He frowned at the activities of revenue generating
agencies of government that did not remit funds
into the Federation Account as and when due. Source Nairaland