Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has called on the Cabinet members to set aside their individual aspirations and prioritize the advancement of the nation. In a bid to empower Nigerians to monitor the implementation of projects across the country in real-time, President Tinubu has also directed the reactivation of the Presidential Delivery Tracker.
Speaking at the closing session of the three-day Cabinet Retreat on Friday in Abuja, President Tinubu emphasized his unwavering determination to ensure the active and direct participation of citizens in governance. He stated that all Nigerians must be given the opportunity to track and report on the progress of projects across the country.
President Tinubu has entrusted his Special Adviser on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, with the immediate reactivation of the tracking system. The aim is to maximize cutting-edge digital innovation and provide real-time oversight capability, benefiting all Nigerians.
During the retreat, President Tinubu outlined the priority areas of his administration for the nation’s advancement. These areas include economic reform for sustained inclusive growth, national security for peace and prosperity, agriculture for food security, utilization of energy and natural resources for sustainable development, improvement of infrastructure and transportation as enablers of growth, focus on education, health, and social investment as essential pillars of development, acceleration of diversification through industrialization, digitization, creative arts, manufacturing, and innovation, and enhancement of governance for effective service delivery.
The President implored the Cabinet members to concentrate on repositioning Nigeria’s economy, prioritizing education, and ensuring quality healthcare services for Nigerians. He obtained the participants’ pledge to work together towards realizing the common goals of the renewed agenda.
President Tinubu further tasked the Cabinet members to collaborate in ensuring Nigeria fully recovers from the challenges it currently faces. He stressed that the Renewed Hope Agenda is not solely focused on economic growth, but also on building a just and equitable society, creating jobs, improving education and healthcare, and reducing poverty. The President highlighted the importance of tangible results over excuses, political games, or procrastination.
In emphasizing the importance of data in governance, President Tinubu asserted, “Data is the lifeblood of effective governance. It enables us to understand the challenges we face so that we can design and implement effective solutions, as well as monitor and evaluate our progress. Without data, we are flying blind.”
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, also presented some key recommendations from the technical sessions of the retreat. These recommendations included policies and priorities such as economic reform for sustained inclusive growth, alignment of the annual budget with strategic priorities, and strengthening national security for peace and prosperity.
The recommendations further highlighted the need to block revenue leakages in the police force, engage with governors to enhance local government security while addressing autonomy and governance issues, prioritize the clean-up of Ogoni communities, boost agriculture for food security, utilize technology to increase agricultural yield, erect the green wall to halt desert encroachment in northern Nigeria, enhance dry-season farming and promote commercial livestock farming, establish a super grid in line with the nation’s generation targets, and create semi-autonomous regional grids.