President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday promised that his administration would strive to take away speculative behaviors that caused market exchange pressures in order to stabilize the value of the Naira.
In a nationwide New Year broadcast in Abuja, The president said government would continue to promote policies that ensure economic stability.
He said his administration would also continue to lay the foundation for a vibrant economy to attract more significant Foreign Direct Investment.
‘‘We will continue to build and maintain a healthy external reserves position and strengthen fiscal buffers”.
‘‘We will ensure the Naira remains strong, and gives foreign investors the clarity and certainty that they need, to guide future investment decisions.
‘‘We will continue to improve our payment systems and strengthen risk-based supervision mechanism for Nigerian banks to ensure overall health and stability of the banking system.
According to President Jonathan, Federal Government will be introducing a broad spectrum of financial instruments to boost sector-specific enterprise areas in agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs), manufacturing, and oil and gas.
He said these instruments were meant to enhance the nation’s aggregate supply capacity, reduce poverty, promote job creation and increase the general well being of the people. He added ‘‘these efforts and other measures being spearheaded by relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, are geared to ensure a secure future for Nigeria and create a much more prosperous country, where people live more peaceful and fulfilled lives”.
President Jonathan disclosed that the federal government had successfully privatised power generation and distribution, rehabilitated and expanded the nation’s rail transportation network.
He added, ‘‘We have also made significant progress in improving access to primary, secondary and tertiary education by building and equipping more schools, including special Almajiri schools, and establishing additional universities to ensure that each state of the nation now has at least one Federal University”.
‘‘Our national economy maintained a steady growth rate of close to seven per cent in the past four years and millions of fresh employment opportunities were created for our people as a direct consequence”.
‘‘Recently, we launched the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) and the $100 million dollars Government and Donor Fund for Agriculture Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN) to fast-track the positive transformation of our agricultural sector’’.
The President stated that this was in addition to a N50 billion Farm Mechanisation Support Fund set up by the Central Bank to establish 1,200 agricultural equipment-hiring enterprises.
He maintained that both funds would become fully operational this year.
‘‘Policies and programmes such as these to boost agricultural production remain topmost on the agenda of this administration,’’ he added.
He said the 2015 budget which had been presented to the National Assembly for approval, was targeted at deepening the nation’s efforts at becoming a non-oil economy.
He said the budget also included measures to ensure that the downturn in the price of oil did not affect the nation’s development plans.
‘‘We are adjusting our financial processes to safeguard our economy.
‘‘We are also taking steps to ensure that the poor and the low and medium income earners do not bear the brunt,’’ the president said.
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