10 things I would love to hear in President Buhari’s Christmas Day address tomorrow
Fellow Nigerians,
- We shall be opening one mechanised division of the Nigerian Army in each of the 19 states of northern Nigeria to combat insecurity, terrorism, kidnapping, banditry and the murderous Fulani herdsmen
- During the course of 2021, we will establish at least one battalion of the Nigerian Army in each of the 27 local government areas of Borno State to eliminate Boko Haram. I give you all a solemn pledge today that this terrorist sect will be totally eliminated before the end of the year 2021
- I have given the minister of trade and industry a target to attract a minimum of $50bn in foreign direct investment in 2021 and every subsequent year annually. He shall start off by visiting China next week to speak with all those multinationals looking to relocate or open branches in other markets
- I have reached an agreement with the new US President-elect Joe Biden on investment in Nigeria. He has assured me that each of their three big automobile giants will open one manufacturing facility in Nigeria in 2021
- We have concluded a deal with Russia to take over and revive the Ajaokuta and Aladja steel plants. Under this agreement, we have set an annual production target of 30m tonnes per annum
- We have just signed a bilateral trade deal with Japan. As part of the pact, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Honda and Suzuki have all agreed to open assembly plants in Nigeria in 2021
- We have expanded our agreement with German power company Siemens. As part of the deal, Siemens has agreed to build four power plants in Nigeria with a combined capacity of 50,000MW and open 12 transmission and 20 distribution companies
- As from 2022, we shall begin phasing out the federal allocation regime. By 2027, we will have full resource control with the federating units generating their own wealth and keeping 50% of it
- We have set ourselves a target of increasing literacy rates to 90% from the current 60% by 2023. As part of this plan, we will build special emergency schools for the 10.5m out-of-school children in Nigeria and dedicate 20% of our national budget to education
- I assure that by 2023, Nigeria will have a gross domestic product of $1trn. We will achieve this through the most ambitious economic diversification programme ever seen in the history of mankind. Our aim is to lift 90m out of poverty in three years
Merry Christmas to all of you
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
President Muhammadu Buhari
Written by:
Ayo Akinfe, born in Salford, Manchester, is a London-based journalist who has worked as a magazine and newspaper editor for the last 20 years. Ayo attended Federal Government College Kaduna and obtained his first degree in history from the University of Ibadan.
