(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/maku-cs-1-300x181.jpg) Information Minister Mr. Labaran Maku says the Federal Government is revamping key sectors of the economy to improve the living condition of citizens and create job opportunities.
Mr. Maku made the remarks when he represented President Goodluck Jonathan at a book launch and public lecture with the theme, "Good Governance, Job Creation and the Role of the Media," organised by the Abuja Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
The Minister said the development plan for the nation is anchored on the Transformation Agenda, which rests on the tripod of good governance, human capital development and the provision of infrastructure. "The most important focus of the agenda is good governance. It is the number one priority of the government. The two other aspects of the Transformation Agenda are human capital development and the provision of infrastructure. All the three are targeted at improving the Nigerian economy and social life to create jobs for Nigerians and improve our living standards", he said.
Mr. Maku decried the deficit in governance at various levels, which was foisted on the nation by decades of military rule and said the situation necessitated President Jonathan to pay special attention to improving the quality of governance as key to economic growth and progress of the nation.
He however, noted that for Nigeria to achieve good governance, there must be free and fair election, which informed the decision of President Jonathan to embark on electoral reform in order to improve the credibility of elections in the country.
He said, "Getting electoral transparency is one of the best ways of fighting corruption, and unaccountability by removing the element of imposition of people, who are not really the choices of the electorate".
Mr. Maku explained that the President is working hard to develop critical sectors such as power and transportation, which are some of the required infrastructure that would drive job creation.
On power, the Minister said, the decay in the sector, which accumulated because of years of neglect, is being tackled in a systematic way through reforms to attract private investment.
At the moment, he said, ten new power plants are under construction across the country, which are expected to come on stream in the first quarter of next year, in addition to the ones being built by the private sector as a result of the reforms that opened up the power sector.
Speaking further, Mr. Maku remarked that already the Federal Government has rehabilitated the railways from Lagos to Kano while the portion of the rail-track in Aba, which was washed away by erosion, is being fixed so that train services could resume from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri this year, to provide affordable and alternative means of transporting passengers and goods across the country.
According to him, the agriculture sector is also being targeted by the present administration for massive job creation particularly through the value chain of production, which was brought about through the revolution in the sector that opened up agriculture as business venture rather than farming for subsistence.
He said, due to the consistency in policy reforms, Nigeria's economy is growing at the rate of 7% for three consecutive years and has become the preferred destination for Foreign Direct Investment in Africa with about $8 billion investment in the economy recorded last year alone.
The Information Minister observed that though democracy promotes development, bitter and negative politics exhibited by some politicians who hide under the cover of religion and ethnicity, has bred insecurity across the country. He therefore called on the political class to eschew politics of bitterness in order not to retard economic growth and development.
On the part of the media, he tasked them on the need to be more realistic, factual and balanced while discussing the economy.
He said for the media to be impactful, they should set the agenda of discussion in the polity and report progress while also looking at the challenges with a view to inspiring confidence and hope among Nigerians and encouraging foreign investment into the country.
Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria