President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration is pursuing a poverty reduction strategy that will usher in rapid, sustained, sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
He said this during a meeting with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) at the State House in Abuja, on Tuesday.
The President said his administration’s plan to lift 100m Nigerians out of poverty was deliberately conceived to achieve its objectives, which would be “pursued with remarkable grit and determination”.
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. Thank you for shaking us up. We are now woken; we will not doze off again. We didn’t just bump into this, we believe it is something we can deliver on.”
Buhari requested the PEAC to present the document to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday as part of the consultation process.
PEAC Chairman, Professor Doyin Salami said the document had gained an vast approval of stakeholders across the country, and 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 actors in the country.
