Over 13 million new direct and indirect employment have been created in Nigeria in the past seven and a half years, according to President Muhammadu Buhari.
On Saturday, the president’s spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, released a statement saying that Buhari made the admission at a Q&A session headlined “A conversation with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria” in Washington, DC.
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the National Endowment for Democracy, the International Republican Institute, and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) co-hosted the event.
The Nigerian leader used the event to warn western countries against abandoning fossil fuels too soon in the name of environmental protection.
Despite the bleak prognosis in the global economy and the crisis in Ukraine, he claims that Nigeria’s economy has achieved positive growth in the last two quarters.
In addition, Buhari warned Western countries against issuing unnecessary travel advisories on Nigeria and urged the international media to report on the land more objectively.
He assured the world that “Nigeria is nonetheless winning the war on terrorism,” despite the indifference of some friends and partners.
As for the risks to Nigeria and the rest of the sub-region, Buhari said that the government had made tremendous progress in dealing with them.
The Nigerian leader also urged the United States to do more to boost the West African region’s already-improving level of governance.
According to him, the democratic setbacks seen in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso pose a threat to the survival of democracy.
The president went on to detail the initiatives his administration has undertaken since taking office in 2015 to boost Nigeria’s economy.
According to him, the country’s transformation from a net importer to a producer of rice, Nigeria’s main grain, was made possible by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s targeted interventions in the agricultural sector.
“This same scheme had financed the establishment and operations of over 50 integrated rice mills.
“It had also financed over 4.5 million smallholder farmers, ensured the cultivation of almost 6 million hectares of farmland, and nearly 700 large-scale agricultural projects had been funded.
“This agricultural revolution had led to the creation of over 13m direct and indirect jobs,” he said.
Buhari also informed the Washington, D.C., community of global thought leaders and Democracy Advocacy Groups that strengthening Nigeria’s agriculture sector had improved the country’s standing internationally.
According to him, this meant that the world was prepared for the disruption to food supplies and price increases brought on by COVID-19 and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The revolution in the agro-allied sector, Buhari continued, had increased the country’s capability in these areas, leading to higher production yields and fewer post-harvest losses.
“The non-oil sector remains the future of our economy, and I hope successive governments will consolidate on the gains we have recorded under my leadership.
“You will agree with me that the Russia-Ukraine war had compelled many economies to implement reforms and re-adjust policies to cope with the challenges posed by the conflict.
“In this regard, we are paying more attention now to energy transmission and distribution through targeted collaboration with global companies like Siemens to improve our efficiency in the Power Value Chain,” he stated.
As a contributing member of the international community, the president noted that Nigeria has taken part in numerous climate change conferences and the different decisions coming from COP26 and the just finished COP27, both of which aim to eliminate the use of fossil fuels by some wealthy nations.
“But, as I stated in my Washington Post article, there can’t be double standards, wherein Western nations use their influence and weight to turn the taps off global financing for fossil fuel transactions which are much needed by developing countries, yet when they feel the pinch, they are quick to turn on their coal-powered plants.
“We owe it to our people to create jobs and livelihoods, and we can’t accomplish this without maximising our comparative advantage in energy to build up our manufacturing and industrial base.”
He argued that a “stronger commitment” must be made to the fund for climate adaptation and mitigation to achieve equity and fairness.