President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday expressed optimism that the reopening of Nigeria’s land borders will improve its economy, telling the country’s West African neighbours that it is ready to do business with them.
“The message to our West African neighbours is that Nigeria is once again fully open for those willing to conduct business in a fair and equitable way,” Buhari noted in his New Year message to Nigerians in which he admitted that 2020 was one of the country’s most trying times.
He said his administration is working on special intervention projects to help drive entrepreneurial activities and create jobs for Nigeria’s teeming youthful population.
While reiterating efforts made so far to reposition the economy, and said his government’s drive for self-sufficiency in food production “has helped reduce the growing food-related inflationary figures and have in considerable measure positively impacted our food security status during the long months of the pandemic lockdown.”
According to him, “we are also currently rebuilding our national infrastructure base and, in the process, introducing transformation through the rehabilitation, modernization, and expansion of the railway system, national roads and bridges both in rural and urban centres, alongside the airports and seaports.”
With the country’s power generation still hovering around 5,000 megawatts, Buhari believes reforms in the sector would put an end to the long-term issue.
“The reforms we have put in place in the power sector would guarantee increased efficiency in our drive to significantly expand the generation and distribution of electricity for use in homes and factories,” he assured in his message in which he admitted that 2020 was a tough time for Nigeria especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the resilient Nigerian spirit ensured the country came out stronger in spite of the daunting challenges it faced in the past year.
