Buhari To Give Primary School Pupils Free Meals. by

Vice- President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo said the President
Muhammadu Buhari’s administration would soon
commence giving primary school children free meals.
The vice president said the free feeding scheme was a
core project of the Federal Government that would in
turn yield about 1.14 million jobs and increase in food
production. Osinbajo said this at the 45th Annual
Accountants Conference in Abuja.
He said the government would be investing more in the
people, education and job creation.
Speaking on the topic “Repositioning Nigeria for
Sustainable Development: From Rhetoric to
Performance,” Osinbajo said that the multiplier
effects of the introduction of the school feeding
scheme would help to create 1.14 million new jobs;
increase food production by up to 530,000 metric
tonnes per annum, as well as attract fresh
investments up to N980bn.
He said, “One of the most important interventions
required in the education sector is capacity building to
improve teacher quality.
“This programme is intended to drive teachers’
capacity development; boost basic education; attract
talents to the teaching profession. Better educated
population increases economic potential for
productivity.”
“The All Progressives Congress has made a commitment
to provide one-meal-a-day for all
primary school students; that would create jobs in
agriculture, including poultry, catering and delivery
services.”
The vice president decried the high rate of
employment in the country in spite of the fact that
Nigeria had recorded high oil prices, Gross Domestic
Product and foreign reserves during the previous
administrations.
This, according to him, has made it clear that such
figures, including a rise in revenue by itself, do not
create jobs or significantly reduce poverty level in the
country.
“So, why are most (of our people) poor despite rising
revenues and GDP growth? Our main revenue earners,
the extractive oil and gas economy, do not by
themselves create many jobs. Such is the irony of a
top-down economic model; when the major revenue
earner is extractive and the value chain is poorly
developed,” he argued.
Osinbajo also said there was need for the government
to improve the power sector and have a one-stop shop
for approvals of investments.
Other areas of focus in the Buhari economic plan, as
espoused by his deputy, are innovation and fighting
piracy; diversification of the economy in the areas of
agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency in rice and
wheat (staples) production; manufacturing;
entertainment and technology.
On the power sector, he noted that “despite the
challenges, there have been measurable
improvements over the past three months (June to
August 2015).”
He said, for instance, there had been a 26 per cent
increase in operational generation capacity (June to
August 15, 2015 compared to January to May 2015);
decrease in pipeline vandalism, boosting of gas supply;
and a 10 per cent reduction in transmission losses.
Other achievements in the sector, he said, included
reduction in red tape to remove delays; blocking the
450MW Azura-Edo IPP and the 500MW Exxon Mobil
Qua-Iboe IPP; and the imposition of a September
2015 deadline for the submission of the DisCos’ revised
tariff trajectories.
The vice president said there was no going back on the
Treasury Single Account policy of the Federal
Government, saying the TSA would address issues of
non-transparency, especially among revenue
generating agencies.
He frowned at the activities of revenue generating
agencies of government that did not remit funds into
the Federation Account as and when due