President Muhammadu Buhari has reaffirmed the resolve of his administration to realise its plan to lift 100m Nigerians out of poverty.
The President made the reaffirmation during a meeting with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) at the State House in Abuja.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the President said the project “did not come by accident or ‘something we just bumped into’, but a deliberate one that will be pursued with remarkable grit and determination”.
Speaking at the meeting, which was attended by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, President Buhari agreed with the Council that the country required a poverty reduction strategy that will usher in a “rapid, sustained, sustainable and inclusive economic growth”.
In a short speech after the presentation of the report on national poverty reduction strategy developed by the PEAC, The President requested the PEAC to present the document to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as part of the consultation process.
He also agreed with the Council that the ambitious program of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty was challenging but achievable.
The President wondered what became of the nation in the past, “with all the resources available to it” that no such coordinated, holistic agenda on poverty reduction was ever contemplated.
“I was shocked, hearing from you that, of the vast agricultural land resources available to the nation, only two percent of it is under irrigation, promising that “we will make the best use of the land”
After listening to the PEAC Chairman, Professor Doyin Salami, who led the presentation, President Buhari cleared the way for Ministers to be briefed on the implementation plan at the FEC meeting
The plan, which Professor Salami said had so far gained an overwhelming approval of stakeholders across the country, had earlier been presented to the Vice President; Secretaries to Government of all the 36 States, and the Governors at the National Economic Council (NEC); Development Partners, including the World Bank, IMF and AfDB; Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and the Organised Private Sector in the country.