GET OUT OF UNEMPLOYMENT

Ignorance is the root cause of unemployment. No man irrespective of the national economic situation has any excuse to be unemployed if he is well informed and willing to act on the information at his disposal. It was the need for such practical information that gave birth to Ronke Kosoko’s GET OUT OF UNEMPLOYMENT- a book which can be describe as the much awaited therapy for the unemployment disease that is ravaging the Nigerian population with poverty as a major symptom and youth as the arch victim.

As an educator, an employment solution strategist, a motivational speaker and a consultant of high pedigree with a growing list of clientele, kosoko tries to use this book to explain the economic and employment reality in Nigeria through detailed analysis of the available statistics in a lay man language and concluded with practical solutions on how to come out of unemployment.

With sparing and well explained use of statistics, the book opened with the painting of the employment reality of the Nigerian state, while Kosoko agreed that all cannot be entrepreneurs, she put forward a balanced knowledge for prospective job seekers on how to get a good job and for the future entrepreneurs on how to start and grow their personal businesses.

The author tries to make her readers understand the fact that they need money to carry out most of the things that will make life habitable for them, hence the need to shun formality and look for the money through every possible legal means even if it is dirty. According to her “every great enterprise is a product of someone’s sweat… what many are looking for is a job in a bank, an oil company, or a telecommunications company with air conditioned office, an official car and official apartment. These jobs are dignifying but dangerous because they offer temporary pleasure but create more problems on the long run… if you are working for someone, you are a cost and an expense, every business is constantly looking for how to cut cost, so, you may be cut down at any time when it is time to down-size, then you will have to go back to no car, no air conditioner, no driver and no house”. She therefore recommended a shift to some old land marks such as agriculture and advise people to kick against laziness and avoid giving excuses. She emphasized the need for personal development in the need for skill acquisition-both transferable and personal management skill.

At the latter part of the book, the author seems to be addressing the prospective entrepreneurs on practical keys that are capable of turning their lives around. Having discussed the need to look inward for a dynamic idea in earlier chapters, the author wrote extensively on why the readers must avoid selfishness but take advantage of synergy. She further discuss other qualities of a successful entrepreneur such as faithfulness, starting small, being quality driven, risk taking attitude and patience .

In trying to discuss the significance of preparing for opportunity, Kosoko wrote on the neglected key-the key of identification, every man and woman is cut out for something peculiar to him, something that he has been equipped from heaven to do, unfortunately, people don’t consider this key and jump at everything that presents itself as opportunity. She however unearth the myriads of opportunities that abound in Nigeria due to the enormous population advantage.

She concluded the book with a rather emotional but motivating story of a poor Chinese refugee boy- Li Ka Ching who rose to become the ninth richest person in the world. This was possible according to Kosoko because among other things, Li accepted responsibility early in life, he did not despise the days of little beginning, he had intense interest in work, was a consistent learner, had a clear vision, set goals, prepared for opportunities and above all built a reputation of honesty.

Unlike many other employment books in the past where ambiguous international and local statistics are employed leaving the readers more confused than informed, Kosoko’s proper analysis of data must be commended. Her balance of the need for both self-employment and paid employment also proved her understanding of the economic reality of the society in which she writes. This is unlike other past literatures in the series which are out to either preach the job hunting skills or the entrepreneurship gospel as the only saving grace, forgetting that one size does not fit all.

However, it is envisaged that in subsequent editions of this work, Kosoko would have improved on many things, among which will be the division of the book into clear sections to aid quick assimilation rather than general advice and use of more local personalities and instances to drive home her point and to prove the possibilities of her claims. In all, the book is a must, not just for the unemployed but also for the employed.

Our President's report card

 Breaking news; while the president and other members of his cabinet are still debating the fuel subsidy brouhaha and the hullabaloo of the possible consequences of the subsidy remains in the lips of every scary Nigerians, a breaking news flashed in making the task of our honourable president becoming more herculean. What news? I envisage you will probably be asking abi? Thank you; it is the news of the Nigeria’s performance in the latest result of the global Human Development Index report.

According to the Human development index report released by the United Nations, Nigeria is in the 156th position out 187 countries that were surveyed. This shows a rather poor condition of development in Nigeria even after fifty-one years of nationhood. This is in the absence of the proposed removal of subsidies on petroleum products, by the time the subsidies finally manifest, the result is better imagined than experienced.


For the records, the human development index (HDI) was developed twenty-one years ago in 1990 by one Mr. Mahbub ul Haq- a Pakistani economist. It was the generally acceptable means of assessing the well-being of nations across the globe. This assessment is based on three criteria; life expectancy which is measured based on longevity of life, literacy level which is measured based on statistics of enrolment in schools and Gross domestic Income (GDI) which is measured based on the purchasing power after the price differences among countries have been removed.


For those of us that we are very conversant with the HDI statistics over the years, we will understand that the result for this year is not so different from previous years since 1990. Last year, Nigeria was 142nd out of 169 surveyed countries making it one of the least developed nation of the world.


Perhaps, a peep through the three categories of the development index can help us to understand how pathetic our situation has become. According to the latest report, on life expectancy, an average Nigerian child is expected to live up to 51.9 years, although this is better than the initial 48 years in 2009 but it is quite disheartening compared to other African countries like Libya and Gabon where the life expectancy 74 years and 62.5 years respectively. In respect to GNI, while countries like Gabon, Botswana and Equatorial Guinea boasts of $12,249, $13,049 and $17,608 per capita income respectively, Nigeria is happily wallowing in the valley of $2,069 per capita income, what a pity! In education, according to a United Nations report, Nigeria and Tanzania currently has the lowest rate of transition from primary to lower secondary school in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, it is estimated that over 11 million Nigerian children of school age are out of school.

To add insult to the injury, away from the Human development index report, over 70 per cent of the Nigerian population still live below the poverty line due to gross joblessness arising from poor infrastructure and high level of insecurity that has discouraged the majority of foreign investors from the Nigerian soil.

To address these development deficits, there is need for the government to look into the stalled privatisation programme as major job creation policy. It is an incontrovertible truth that only a private-sector driven economy can guarantee a sustainable job creation and by extension, a swift national development.

The gigantic imbalance between the recurrent and the capital allocation in the budget should also be addressed. Nigeria should never in her wildest dream expect development with just 30 per cent of its national budget for the capital projects that will not even meet 40 per cent implementation while 70 per cent goes for recurrent expenditure.

More importantly is the need to take the achievements of Millennium development goals (MDGs) as priority at no later date than the 2015 deadline. The achievement of these MDGs is a singular womb containing all the ingredients that Nigeria need to become developed.


Meanwhile, Nigeria should tackle the power problem among other infrastructural problem with renewed vigour and develop the agricultural sector of the economy in order to create more jobs, eradicate poverty and usher in a new wave of development.

This god must be crazy

Guru Maharaj Ji, as jaw breaking as the name sound has become a household name over the years since he claimed to be the master of the Universe. However, it is quite unfortunate that the lord of the Universe was recently chased out of his residence because he owed four years rent. Mr. Guru was owing a total of N800, 000 from September 2000 to September 2004 at the rate of N200, 000 per annum.

The police on Tuesday besiege the house of the master of Universe at number 10, Awolowo avenue, Bodija, estate, Ibadan and evicted every living and non living thing in the compound including the almighty Guru Maharaj Ji.

The property – a four bedroom duplex apartment, which actually belongs to late prof. Olawale  Awosika was said to have been occupied by Guru for many years. Evicting the almighty Maharaj Ji was not a very easy task, the counsel for the landlord Mr. Yemi Ajayi explained the challenge of his combat with the gods in the land of the spirit. “The owner of the property at 10, Awolowo way, Bodija, Ibadan with his family took action against the tenant to eject him; we got a court judgement executed against him to evacuate the premises. the religious group suddenly moved in again and his lawyer filed some papers in court that took us five years but recently we got a judgement in court that the eviction be carried out by this it means that the claimants are in lawful possession of the property, anybody who breaks in will be doing that at in contempt of the court”

Actually, the plaintiffs prayed for order directing the defendants to put back the house in a habitable condition by repainting and removing all the symbols, signs and insignia on the walls of the property. But my many questions are; how on earth was the master of the Universe owing such an embarrassing amount? Probably Nigerian don wise up and so there are no longer customers to be duped, but another question will be who on earth is ready to live in a house which once accommodates the spirit, i guess the answer is simple- it must be another spiritual man. I think this self-proclaimed god of the universe must really be crazy or what do you think?

ELECTION AFTER RESULT

Interestingly, this just concluded local government poll reminded me of the nature of the Nigerian election, coincidentally it was the same old story, an unserious fellow had earlier presented the situation in a satirical joke some few weeks back, the joke according to him goes thus;

Four men from America, Japan, Germany and Nigeria were arguing about the speed with which election results get released in their respective countries. The man from Japan started, “ in my country, we have put in place such technology that makes it possible for the masses to know the result of our election within forty-eight hours of voting” while he was confidently making his submission, the remaining three young could not help but laugh. Curiously, he demanded to know what unanimously amused them but the German man answered, “ my friend, this is 21^st century  if you have to still wait for 48 hours, to get election result then you are not of this generation, in my country, the result get released just within twenty four hours of the poll” the American man could no longer tolerate these outdated methods that are being glorified as modern technology, so he screamed, can I have your attention for a moment!,  suddenly there was silence, they all wanted to hear what he has to say,  so he began “with all due respect friends, I  have not heard real technology all along, in my country, while the vote is on, there is a computerised system that makes it possible for the people to monitor the result simultaneously via television, that my friends is what I call technology in action.

They all looked surprised save for the Nigerian man who motioned with his hand signifying that he has something to say and from all indication, it is something different from what they have all said but in amazement of the American technology, the Japanese and the German cannot help but chorused “what again do you have to say, the American has spoken, case closed” no, capital no, that is a lie from the pit of hell” he replied. For your information, he continued, in Nigeria, we don’t wait till the election before we get the result, we determine the result before election, we only vote to confirm our result and trust me, our technology has never failed. They all asked, how possible, good, thank you very much, the mathematics is simple, we determine if our answer is going to be 5.  Then we now consider our variables whether or not they are compatible with the result is nobody’s business, in fact the available variables could be 1 and 1 but remember that even if you add that 1+1 it must give you our preconceived 5, this technology device is called ‘DO OR DIE’.

If you don’t believe this sincere Nigerian boy, at least you heard about the recent INEC disclosure that 1, 338 direct data capture machine (DDCM) for the concluded election were stolen from the centre store in its Lagos office.  According to INEC, the figure was part of the total 9,450 DCMs allocated to Lagos state for the voters registration. Apart from the machines, the commission also recorded that computer hard disks were stolen along with about 664 computer batteries.

Well, some say the enemy has done this but i say those who have the capacity to determine election result before it is finally out must have done this. No wonder the result of the Local government poll in Badagry is still generating a lot of controversy, while some reports are saying that ACN has won all the seats in Lagos state, another conflicting report is saying that ACN lost Badagry and Lagos Island. Whatever is the true report, i am concern about why the state is hiding the result from the masses and the leaving the community into a prospective chaos.

You know what i think, i think some people have seen the result before the election and the election seems to be contradicting the envisaged result but you know the Nigerian system, they will stop at nothing until this 1+1=5.

Jonathan and the titanic task of development



 Breaking news; while the president and other members of his cabinet are still debating the fuel subsidy brouhaha and the hullabaloo of the possible consequences of the subsidy remains in the lips of every scary Nigerians, a breaking news flashed in making the task of our honourable president becoming more herculean. What news? I envisage you will probably be asking abi? Thank you; it is the news of the Nigeria’s performance in the latest result of the global Human Development Index report.

According to the Human development index report released by the United Nations, Nigeria is in the 156^th position out 187 countries that were surveyed. This shows a rather poor condition of development in Nigeria even after fifty-one years of nationhood. This is in the absence of the proposed removal of subsidies on petroleum products, by the time the subsidies finally manifest, the result is better imagined than experienced.

For the records, the human development index (HDI) was developed twenty-one years ago in 1990 by one Mr. Mahbub ul Haq- a Pakistani economist. It was the generally acceptable means of assessing the well-being of nations across the globe. This assessment is based on three criteria; life expectancy which is measured based on longevity of life, literacy level which is measured based on statistics of enrolment in schools and Gross domestic Income (GDI) which is measured based on the purchasing power after the price differences among countries have been removed.

For those of us that we are very conversant with the HDI statistics over the years, we will understand that the result for this year is not so different from previous years since 1990. Last year, Nigeria was 142^nd out of 169 surveyed countries making it one of the least developed nation of the world.

Perhaps, a peep through the three categories of the development index can help us to understand how pathetic our situation has become. According to the latest report, on life expectancy, an average Nigerian child is expected to live up to 51.9 years, although this is better than the initial 48 years in 2009 but it is quite disheartening compared to other African countries like Libya and Gabon where the life expectancy 74 years and 62.5 years respectively. In respect to GNI, while countries like Gabon, Botswana and Equatorial Guinea boasts of $12,249, $13,049 and $17,608 per capita income respectively, Nigeria is happily wallowing in the valley of $2,069 per capita income, what a pity! In education, according to a United Nations report, Nigeria and Tanzania currently has the lowest rate of transition from primary to lower secondary school in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, it is estimated that over 11 million Nigerian children of school age are out of school.

To add insult to the injury, away from the Human development index report, over 70 per cent of the Nigerian population still live below the poverty line due to gross joblessness arising from poor infrastructure and high level of insecurity that has discouraged the majority of foreign investors from the Nigerian soil.

To address these development deficits, there is need for the government to look into the stalled privatisation programme as major job creation policy. It is an incontrovertible truth that only a private-sector driven economy can guarantee a sustainable job creation and by extension, a swift national development.

The gigantic imbalance between the recurrent and the capital allocation in the budget should also be addressed. Nigeria should never in her wildest dream expect development with just 30 per cent of its national budget for the capital projects that will not even meet 40 per cent implementation while 70 per cent goes for recurrent expenditure.

More importantly is the need to take the achievements of Millennium development goals (MDGs) as priority at no later date than the 2015 deadline. The achievement of these MDGs is a singular womb containing all the ingredients that Nigeria need to become developed.

 Meanwhile, Nigeria should tackle the power problem among other infrastructural problem with renewed vigour and develop the agricultural sector of the economy in order to create more jobs, eradicate poverty and usher in a new wave of development.

In search of greener pasture

Going abroad or searching for ‘greener pasture’ as it is popularly called is not a new phenomenon but I think the first question to ask is how grey (sorry , I mean to say how green) is the supposed greener pasture. In all fairness of truth, there is nothing wrong with the desire to go abroad especially to study, it is the fundamental student right of anybody to desire it. In fact, if I am filled with sufficient pounded yam and egusi soup today, I can desire to study abroad tomorrow too. 

While the opportunities to study abroad are limitless the disillusion is also enormous. Although it seems the opportunities are drying up abroad and the economies of western countries are stagnating, studying abroad still undoubtedly expands the horizon of students and it could be culturally and intellectually enriching.

However, before you start expressing your fundamental student right of going to study abroad, there is need for physical, financial and psychological preparations among many things.

Physically, the student should be prepared to adapt to the physical environment, if you know what I mean; the food is always cold, bland and not fresh, the weather is always cold, dark and most times it rains. There is always the possibility of getting lost and being left alone with maps to direct you. How many average Nigerians can read a map, well, I can’t but if you can read a map good for you!

Psychologically, there is need to be at alert putting on the boy scout motto: BE PREPARED. Students should be vigilant and ready to act, there is inevitably going to be a cultural shock, a high level of circularisation or language barrier. There may also be issues of acceptable discrimination meaning that the system could allow legitimate discrimination against foreigners of certain nationalities. There are usually a set of rules that could permit certain organisations to legally discriminate. For instance, this could be in form of work restrictions, because it is strongly believed that immigration has became a social problem, which is putting a strain on the infrastructure of society and devaluing local jobs. This is common in job hunts where indigenes are given preference against foreigners, especially in Europe. This makes political sense and it is flawlessly defensive on a social level.

Above all, the journey should be made with finances put in place and secured. Finances available should be able to cover living and studying expenses during the period of stay, people over there have confirmed that it can be very frustrating to try to work your way through paying for your school fees.

So, now that you know that money doesn’t grow on trees abroad and that beyond having the funds to study abroad there are other preparations to make, what do you think about going out there for a greener pasture, well, for me I think, proper preparation will prevent poor performance!

ALOFUN OLUWATAYO: A LETTER FROM THE OTHER SIDE

ALOFUN OLUWATAYO: A LETTER FROM THE OTHER SIDE: A beneficiary of the University of Lagos Scholarship Award, Yusuf Olatunji of the Department of Geography and Planning has expressed gra...

A LETTER FROM THE OTHER SIDE

A beneficiary of the University of Lagos Scholarship Award, Yusuf Olatunji of the Department of Geography and Planning has expressed gratitude to authorities of the University for initiating the scheme. He stated this in a letter of appreciation addressed to the University’s Dean of Student Affairs.

        

Olatunji, who finished his course with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.82 in August, 2011, attributed his academic success to the award which alleviated his financial burden. Below is the full text of the letter:

“I am glad to have the opportunity to thank you personally and to express my sincere and deep appreciation for your kindness and the generosity you demonstrated to me and all scholars as recipients of the University of Lagos Endowment Scholarship. Your contribution was very significant and helped in achieving my goal with unquestionable success.

“Growing up in a poverty-ridden home where I personally had to work very hard to make ends meet has made me realize the value of University education. I was born into the family of Mr. and Mrs. Yusuf, where my parent had to work round the clock to cater for little out of my many needs. Infact, I will be the first in my family to attend the University and I hope to set a good example for my siblings and posterity. The granting of this scholarship has definitely paved my way to greater horizons. It has been my childhood dream to hold a Bachelor of Science from a reputable University like ours. To the glory of God, I recently graduated in August 2011 with a First Class in Geography and Planning (CGGPA of 4.82).This has been a real accomplishment for me and something I have worked very hard to achieve.

“This dream would not have come true without the University of Lagos Endowment Scholarship that was awarded to me. For my financial disability to meet the cost of pursuing such a course would not have permitted me to continue. For someone like me who doesn’t have any financial backing, this scholarship holds even greater importance to me. The University of Lagos Endowment Scholarship lightened my financial burden from my first year till date which allowed me to focus more on the most important aspect of school learning and also gave me stronger motivation to work towards excellence. Your generosity has inspired me to help others and give back to the community. I hope, one day, I will be able to help students achieve their goals and dreams, just as you have helped me.

“I will forever appreciate and would like to convey my sincere thanks to the University of Lagos Alumni Association and other Endowment Partners for all their philanthropic support to humanity in all ramifications particularly at periods I needed them most. God bless you real good, Sir/Ma. I promise to work very hard and be a good ambassador of this great University wherever I go, and eventually give something back to others, both as an environmental scientist and possibly scholarship to future students.

“As a fresh graduate, my plans include pursuing a Master’s Degree in International Development (Environment, Resources & Development) and if given the opportunity, a PhD in United Kingdom or United States of America. I do not only have a passion for the environment and its resources, I also have a vision to help make the global community a safer place to live.

“Once again, I offer my sincere thanks to all for their generous support. Thank you Sir, from the core of my heart.”
Having graduated too, trust me it feels so cool to stand from the outside gate to write a letter such as this or what do you think?

A DEFENCE WITHOUT OFFENCE

Final year students of Mass Comm. UNILAG during Prof. Class

It finally happened on Tuesday 4^th of October 2011 at the high court of department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos under the supreme Justice Ralph Akinfeleye-the usually dreaded project defence. Although project defence happens everywhere but the defence in mass comm. is peculiar for many reasons- it is the day of reckoning and accountability and for all those who have dodged personal and group assignments as undergraduate-it is the judgment seat of Prof. Ralph and co. Mass comm. Limited.

At about 12 noon we were all asked to line-up, that sound like a symbol of finality to me...hmm, you know that in UNILAG you have to queue for everything- when you started your registration in year one, you queue, at shuttle and cab park queue, to fetch bathing water in the morning sef na queue!(if you doubt it ask those who stayed in Makama, in the days when makama was still makama and shodeinde was still shodeinde. Thank God I’m finally free from the many queues.

Back to the judgement seat of Akinfeleye, we all entered the hall and were offered comfortable wooden seats some of which are partly broken but just who are we to complain before the chairman and head. Our attention was immediately called to the nine commandment of Akinfeleye written on the board them order to be followed in presenting the overview of the project- too bad i can’t remember them again, but why should I even remember them in the first place, I will never need them again, so... After a brief opening prayer the first person was asked to make his presentation comfortably sitting down. Waoh! He was practically the scape pig (sorry, I mean scape goat) for the rest of us- I really commend his courage despite his nervousness; he finished within the 5 minutes given to him, then the next person and the next person until it was my turn.

I delivered my presentation with such preparedness; speed and authoritative loud voice that even the chief justice Akinfeleye had to tell me “Mr. ALOFUN PLEASE CALM DOWN, ITS NOT A WAR ZONE” never! I refuse to calm down, how can he tell me that defending a six unit course is not war- it is war! But I won. I was the man of the day. I soon became a consultant for many others from the next day, the news of my great presentation spread so fast like fire in a cocoa plantation during dry season- maybe you don hear sef but you just dey pletend. Any way, now you know!

In the end our many offences were recounted, for some it was poor abstract, for others acknowledgement but the greatest offence is to leave proposal language unchecked-this offence attracts a capital punishment of REDO- meaning re-writing the whole project, but to God be the glory, there was no victim of proposal language. The only person that was close to that escaped narrowly and he later became a preacher of proposal language. I remember one of our friends had nine research questions HABA! Those ones are set to kill Prof. But he also survived. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the Friday defence when everybody when we got breaking news that those presenting on Friday will present on Thursday and that those for Monday and Tuesday should also be on standby because everybody must present on Thursday.

All the blackberry babes swing into action pinging one another, thank God I had presented because my 3310 NOKIA palasa can never receive any ping, the defence closed at about 9pm on Thursday and the last set was done early on friday. Above all, now I can boldly say- I AM A GRADUATE, YOU NKO!

THE TRUTH ABOUT SELF-EMPLOYMENT

Ibukun Awosika, an enterpreneur

Let’s start like this- mention four names of a successful entrepreneur of your choice? For me, I will mention Ibunkun Awosika of Socoa Chair, Jimoh Ibrahim- the owner of Mirror newspaper, Mike Adenuga of GLOBACOM, Aliko Dangote of Dangote Groups. That’s OK less I break the rule, I said four! Considering the opulent life of these millionaire entrepreneurs, everybody will like to be self-employed too, including me sef. In fact, our popular motivational speakers have advised us to create jobs and employ others rather than looking for employers, these words are so great!

Every time you pick up a newspaper and look at the business column you see such things like- Work from home, Be your own boss, decide what time to walk, work at your own pace and earn twice what your office can pay you. Many people have unfortunately bitten more than they can chew only to realise the truth about entrepreneurship- what is the truth? Entrepreneurship is about hard work and sacrifice. No wonder some people have gone bankrupt or bitter or both.

I was at a programme titled DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH where Ibukun Awosika spoke about her early days of entrepreneurship- she said she started at the back of her father’s house using her father’s machine and had no funds to execute the projects. Every time clients bring furniture work, she will collect half of the project money to pay for the materials and pay the workers half of their workmanship, when she is done with the project she will collect the remaining balance and balance up the workers then pay the rent of tools. The remaining profit goes into two things- purchase of petty tools for the business and her upkeep.

While her mates in the Banks have bought their beautiful cars, she was driving footwagon (using her foot to walk around). After sometimes however, she stopped buying tools because she had bought all she wanted for the business and she had more money to expand the business. She later had foreign investment partnership and today she is a big woman, she can now work at her pace.

All the promises of gains that self-employment gives are true and real but the flipside of that truth is that it is not automatic, you will have to invest hard work at the beginning and groom the business to a point where you can begin to enjoy all the good benefits that self- employment promises.

Today, Ibukun Awosika is one the Nigerian top entrepreneurship woman, yet, she still took another step to attend the Lagos business school to acquire more management skill, for everything she never had in those days she now have them ten times over. Still thinking of getting self-employed? Count the cost.

His Excellency has Spoken

Amidst the bomb threat by MEND and other existing crises in the country, his Excellency president Goodluck Jonathan has delivered his independent day speech, listen to him;

Fellow compatriots, On this day 51 years ago, the British Union Jack was lowered and replaced by our national Green-White-Green flag, heralding the independence of our nation. The 1st of October remains a special day for us, for Africa, and indeed the world.

As we celebrate today, we remember with pride, the nationalism and patriotism that inspired our founding fathers and the Nigerian people. They set aside their differences, to secure the unity and independence of our great country.

That is the Nigerian spirit! For the Nigerian spirit cannot be broken. We are a resilient nation, determined to chart a course, through the turbulent waters of nation building. The Nigerian spirit is vibrant today in the world.

Our citizens at home and abroad, are making their mark in all fields of human endeavour. These hard-working and committed Nigerians, remain a source of pride to us and a beacon of what is achievable, if we remain focused and determined.

I know that a great number of you are joining hands with me and the Administration, in the great task ahead.
I value all Nigerians. I see our youth who are looking for jobs and yet remain hopeful. I see the farmer, and fisherman, toiling everyday to earn a living. I see the teacher, working hard, to train our future generations, with much sacrifice.

I see the market women whose entrepreneurial spirit helps to generate income for their children and families. I see our sportsmen and women training hard to bring glory to our nation. I see our resilience and commitment, as a nation, to defend our democracy and secure our future.

I see every single profession and vocation, making positive contributions to national progress. I value you all!
Together, we shall work for a Nigeria in which democracy and the rule of law are sacrosanct.

A country where corruption and its attendant vices, are banished. A country where human life is sacred and respected, and where the rights of the individual are protected.

Nigeria is a young entity in the comity of nations and yet in her 51 years, she has made significant strides in making her presence felt all over the world. Our diplomatic and peacekeeping efforts, in various parts of the continent, have helped to end conflict and avert crises. In sustaining global security, our intervention has been crucial to peace, progress and democracy for the citizens of the affected countries.

The journey to nationhood always has its own challenges. Nigeria has had her own share. Our growing pains as a nation have included the civil war, the June 12 election crisis and restlessness in the Niger Delta.

But Nigeria has always overcome each of these challenges. We overcame before. We will overcome yet again.
Today, as a nation, there is much for us to celebrate. We celebrate our diversity. We celebrate our entrepreneurial spirit.

We celebrate our resilience and ability to turn adversity into hope. We celebrate our culture. For the labours of our heroes past, shall never be in vain.
As your President, let me reassure all Nigerians that I remain resolutely committed to the ideals and dreams of our founding fathers. Let me also reassure Nigerians that

I will strongly defend the peace and stability of our nation.
My administration will spare no effort in fighting crime, building peace, and securing our homeland against internal threats and infiltration by violent groups, from outside our borders.

We condemn all acts of violence and declare that such acts of mindless savagery shall not be allowed to define our country. We will not be deterred. Our resolve is strong.

I have put in place a new and reinvigorated national security strategy, to combat the threat to our safety. Yet, no matter what I do as your President and no matter what we do as your elected leaders, at all levels, the peace and security of our nation rest also on our collective efforts as citizens, in our various communities.

All leaders and citizens, in every community, must therefore make peace the number one priority of their daily routine. This is because, without peace, no community can realize its objectives or achieve a happy and productive life for its members.

The current incidents of violence and terror, in parts of the country, will surely be overcome. We will secure the safety of our citizens for only when we do this, will we be able to build the needed peace and tranquility in all parts of the federation.
Securing our peace and stability will ensure economic growth and prosperity for all.

Since I assumed office, as the President of our great country, I have continued to focus my attention on the economy. I have taken several measures to address structural weaknesses which stand between us and economic growth and prosperity for all.

We are growing our economy, to generate employment opportunities for our teeming youth and enhanced prosperity for every citizen. This remains the main focus of my administration.

In a few days time, I shall launch an innovative competition for our young entrepreneurs to come up with ways to expand their businesses, create more jobs, and sharpen their business skills.
Now, it is very clear that without fundamental reforms in the key sectors of our economy, we will not be able to fully unlock our potential as a nation. We must manage our resources more prudently and efficiently. We must provide stable electricity to our citizens to help drive economic activity.

I call on our political leaders to put aside partisan politics, for united action towards the advancement of our nation. We must build together.
Because of the measures we have taken on the economy, our GDP is today one of the fastest growing in Africa. We are currently growing the economy at 7.8%. We expect to sustain an 8% growth rate and a better GDP in the medium term, on our journey towards realizing our Vision 20:2020 goal.

We shall strive to make this growth, job creating and inclusive.
Growth in agriculture and other non-oil sectors are crucial, to help diversify the economy and to generate much needed jobs.

Agriculture remains one of the highest priorities in my government’s Agenda for National Transformation. We have set out clear, agricultural, transformation action plans and policy measures, to achieve self-sufficiency in the production of rice, cassava, maize, sorghum and other staple foods.

Self-sufficiency in rice alone will save us the 356 Billion Naira that we currently spend annually importing rice. We will revamp the way we distribute fertilizers, taking government out of distribution of fertilizers.

We plan to reach 20 million farmers with private-sector distributed fertilizers over the next four years. We will improve the investment environment and incentives for the private sector across the agricultural value chains.

Our agricultural transformation plan will generate 3.5 million jobs and an additional 20 million metric tons of food.
But we must all show pride in our farmers. We should eat what we produce. The increasing popularity of local products, like ‘Ofada Rice’, ‘Badegi rice’, and ‘Abakaliki Rice’, attest to the fact, that the populace will readily embrace locally grown produce.

We must also take pride in our scientists. This week, Nigeria released 8 new high yielding cocoa varieties. This will help to transform cocoa production, across the 14 cocoa producing states in the nation.

We have put in place implementable programmes to transform our Nation from an importer of petroleum products, to the regional hub for exportation of value-added petroleum and petrochemical products. We are revamping existing refineries and building three new ones.
We are effectively supporting the private-sector led construction of world scale petrochemical and fertilizer plants.

This will for the first time in our history, result in effective monetization of our abundant natural gas resources while at the same time, creating over a million jobs.
Our potential is huge. We have the requisite market volume.

We have a youthful, energetic, and hardworking population.
The structural and managerial bottlenecks, that have obstructed our economic growth, are being addressed, to unleash the energy and potentials of this nation.

To achieve this, I am determined to ensure that Nigerians have reliable electricity.

Our economy will grow faster, and our hard working small businesses will thrive, when we finally fix the power challenges we face.
We are fast tracking power reforms, to improve the generation and distribution of electricity.

Already, we are beginning to do things differently. I believe that integrity, honour, patriotism, selfless service and fear of God, must be the hallmarks of leadership at all levels.
A nation is sustained by its institutions and systems. I have taken strong measures to improve on governance.
It is in this regard, that I signed into law, the Freedom of Information Act. I will further strengthen all institutions, to ensure greater transparency, probity, and accountability at all levels.

Last year, I promised to restore confidence in our electoral system and pledged to deliver free and fair elections. To achieve that, we initiated some electoral reforms and strengthened INEC and other related agencies.

As a result, our April 2011 general elections was adjudged by Nigerians and the international community as the most transparent and credible elections, ever conducted in our country. Indeed, post-election petitions reduced by over 50%.

Let me assure all Nigerians of my resolve to lead our nation into a safer, more peaceful, and prosperous future for our children.
For the time has come, to rise above ethnic and religious divisions;

The time has come, to unite against violence, in all its ramifications;

The time has come, to secure our peace, and unite against suffering, and deprivation;

I see a new Nigeria rising. A Nigeria, that is economically strong.

A Nigeria, that takes its rightful place of leadership in the world. A Nigeria, that uses its diversity to reinforce its strength. A Nigeria, we all can be proud of.
This is the Nigeria we need and this is the Nigeria, we all must build.

As we celebrate today, let us resolve to build the Nigeria of our future.

I thank you.
God bless you all.
And God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.