By Sola Adeyemi
Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in the next four years will focus on achieving prosperity for the country.
Osinbajo made this known on Monday at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) where he delivered the Convocation Lecture ahead of the university’s 50th anniversary
He said that under Buhari’s administration, Nigeria’s prosperity would be defined as 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”.
On the way forward, the vice president said from the onset it was clear to the Federal Government that it needed to devise an economic plan that prioritised the basic issues with Nigeria’s economy.
He said that Nigeria needed to prioritise the building of infrastructure especially rail, roads, power and ports; productivity as it diversified from oil and gas.
Osinbajo said that more would be done in the fight against public sector corruption and developing a new educational curriculum that emphasises 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. “
On the progress made so far, Osinbajo said the Buhari administration believed that creating an environment for productivity investment in hard and soft infrastructure was crucial.
He assured Nigerians that with the integrity of President Buhari and the commitment of his administration, Nigeria would not derail from its current path to prosperity.
Osinbajo said that if the administration stuck to its agenda in the next two years, Nigerians would see the most significant improvements, in the power sector.
“Industrial Infrastructure is a major component of our economic transformation plan. Project MINE (Made in Nigeria for Export) is the major plank of our industrial policy.
” The idea is to build Special Economic Zones which accommodate industries for local manufacture of goods for which Nigeria has a comparative advantage. These include cotton, garments, leatherware among others, ” he said.
Shortly before delivering the Convocation lecture, Osinbajo unveiled the Mascot for the 26th NUGA games and inaugurated some projects executed by the University.
Some of the projects include the newly constructed Container Building for the University Technology Hub, the Academic Publishing Centre Building, the Faculty of Engineering Lecture Theatre, and the remodelled University Medical Centre.