The first town hall meeting tagged ‘Buharimeter’ is holding in Abuja today, June 9, according to the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).
According to the CDD, there is need for better ordination between ministers and ministries.
There needs to be coordination between ministers and ministries. Among security agencies for effective security
#Buharimeter
12:32 PM - 9 Jun 2016
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CDD West Africa
@CDDWestAfrica
Five federal ministers are participating at today’s inaugural town hall meeting, they include: Lai Mohammed (Information and Culture), Babatunde Fashola (Power, Works, and Housing), Audu Ogbeh (Agriculture and Rural Development), Amina Mohammed (Environment), and Udo Udoma (Budget and National Planning) would represent the government delegation. The exercise is aimed at assessing President Buhari’s APC-led government’s first year in office. Nigerians have already taken to various social media platforms, airing their views about the president’s first year in office and the ongoing in and around the venue of the town hall meeting.
It's this govt that brought the country to light when govt pumped a lot of money into power – Lai Mohd #Buharimeter
11:50 AM - 9 Jun 2016 · Abuja, Nigeria, Nigeria
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Bashir Ahmad
@BashirAhmaad
Pictures from the @buharimeter Town Hall Meeting holding in Abuja now
#Buharimeter
11:07 AM - 9 Jun 2016
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Situation Room
@SituationRoomNg
Below are updates from the venue of the very important assessment meeting.
Happening now: HM
@AminaJMohammed , @tundefashola , Lai Mohammed & Udo Udoma attend
#BuhariMeter Town Hall meeting
10:56 AM - 9 Jun 2016
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Esther Agbarakwe
@estherclimate
12:58PM
Lai Mohammed says the country failed to address the real cause of insecurity. Boko Haram has been able to thrive because of ignorance and poverty, he said.
He said the shrinking size of the Lake Chad is also a cause of the rise in terrorism.
“The Lake Chad supports about 20 million people in seven countries, for agriculture and fishing. 20 million people have been dislodged. And it’s sad that the Lake Chad crisis is the most under reported in the world.
“We must address the issue of Lake Chad seriously.
“On the bringbackourgirls, the president said there would be no closure on Boko Haram until these girls are returned. We must not forget that the trail had gone cold when this government came onto power.”
12:50PM
Fashola says the Ajaokuta steel plant is caught up in legal entanglements and there is little the government can do for now.
This govt is working for purpose, not for show. It is not a one time show~
@tundefashola #Buharimeter
12:03 PM - 9 Jun 2016
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Amplified Radio
@AmplifiedR
“Yes, there is no power. But it does not mean there is no capacity to produce power. In February, we were able to meet 5,000 megawatts. When you have an idea how extensive the pipeline network is and how they must pass through land… I don’t know any country that wants to have electricity that destroys its electricity infrastructure. People have even begun to remove bolts and nuts from tracks that had been laid for rail.” He says there is a strategy going forward. “There will be a time when we can not rely on gas solely.”
We think that methods, planning and coordination will take us to the society we want to live in. “As far as security is concerned, there is a new wave of global criminality going on. The existing security machinery put in place after the second world war takes care of conventional warfare. It’s a new global learning curve for everybody.”
12:20PM
Mr Ogbeh indicates he has another function to attend, and so the first round of questions goes to his ministry. The minister says the government informed him the ministry won’t get much in the budget because of the challenges of infrastructure. 2016 has 92 percent of the budget on recurrent and overheads, leaving eight percent for capital. But this year, we have 30 percent on capital and 70 percent on recurrent. On land use act, he says it is a complex matter and there would is a bill coming in the National Assembly where the public would debate where some of the issues. On extension workers, he says the ministry is about to train 15,000 workers with an average of one per local government. Regarding climate change, he says the government is looking at climate-smart agriculture. Irrigation is the only other way of responding to climate change. About the Water hyacinths, he says there are companies now developing fertilisers from water hyacinths in Lagos and Bayelsa. He says the structural adjustment programme remains our biggest mistake. We are very cautious about economic theories. Some may be useful but until we cut down importation, we are going nowhere.
11:56AM
Amina Mohammed (Environment) says it is important to plan well with the abundant human resources.
We went across Nigeria in 8 days to see the huge ecological challenges in the country- @AminaJMohammed
#Buharimeter
11:49 AM - 9 Jun 2016
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Esther Agbarakwe
@estherclimate
“The budget is insufficient for the protection of the environment, so we have to look outwards.
We signed into law the 2016 environmental regulations that gives power to states to enforce them.
Last week, we launched the Ogoni clean-up. It was something that had been on the table for years and one promise we had brought to fruition.
On erosion partnership with the World Bank, we have increased the number of states benefitting from six to 17.”
" @CDDWestAfrica : We need to differentiate between criminality and grievances says Amina Mohammed
#Buharimeter "
1:09 PM - 9 Jun 2016
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Jibrin Ibrahim
@JibrinIbrahim17
11:50AM
Audu Ogbeh (Agriculture and Rural Development) says Kebbi is now the single largest producer of rice in the country. He says 350,000 tons of wheat were harvested in Kano and Jigawa. He says high cost of food stuff is because over the past 30 years we migrated completely from a culture of food production to food importation. “We will launch our road map next week. The summary is that we hope to achieve self sufficiency in the production of rice, wheat, soya beans, maize, and millet. The federal government has no land and has no farm. The Minister only designs policies and seeks the support of the states and local governments. We Andre now number three in cashew production, we want to move to the number one position. We want to end the herdsmen clashes. States have donated lands for ranches. Our target is to lend to farmers at five per cent interest. No country planning for meaningful agriculture lends to farmers at 18 percent. I want to appeal to the young people to think of what to do in the agricultural sector. Years ago I went back to my village to go into farming. Today, I’m a cashew farmer with 14,000 trees in the village.”
11:40AM
Udo Udoma (Budget and National Planning) says last year’s election was fought against a difficult economic trend, and that significant decline in revenue began in 2014, Premium Times reports. “In recent weeks we’ve had a lot of oil installations distractions. When we came in, we had to take a strong action to slow down that tide. We did that by the singular action of fighting corruption. Even if we stop all corruption in Nigeria, we will not solve our economic problems. He says solvingthe economic problem is a difficult challenge. The 2016 budget was crafted as an expansionate budget, moving the capital budget from N500 billion last year to N1.8 trillion. It was clear to us that one of the main things you need is to create an enabling infrastructure for the private sector. How do we do that? Anticorruption campaign has helped us, so also has the TSA as the Minister mentioned. How do we expand revenues? And diversify the economy? We came out with a citizen’s guide for the 2016 budget. It’s on our website and it explains all these things I’m talking about. We listed 34 key actions and we are on the way of achieving a number of them. We want to ensure that we narrow the gap between the parallel market and the official and the CBN is looking at that.
There is a big scheme going on in Kebbi state and we are giving out interest rates at nine percent to farmers. We are also looking at solid minerals. The Minister has already launched a road map to plug leakages in that sector. We want to diversify into solid minerals, agriculture, and manufacturing. Our main thrust is that government alone cannot turn this economy around, but it must be able to provide an enabling environment.”
11:26AM
Lai Mohammed says his only “sin” was speaking too much before the election (laughter erupts in the hall). He describes the Buharimeter idea as a “very good idea” for the government to engage directly with Nigerians.
“Long before the first year anniversary we had embarked on our own town hall meeting to give the citizens feedbacks on our achievements.
“The first one was held in Lagos. “Any meaningful assessment must be situated within the right context “We campaigned on three broad areas, corruption, revamp the economy and security.” Have we met our targets? If you ask me, I will say we are on track. Insecurity: The most daunting security challenge we faced when we came in was the Boko Haram challenge. Today it had receded and it is not by accident. Alhaji Mohammed goes on to list the president’s strategy in scaling back Boko Haram attacks, including relocation of the command office to Maiduguri. Corruption: “It was corruption that prolonged the war against Boko Haram. It was corruption that gave nigerians darkness instead of light, despite sinking millions of dollars into the sector. The money recovered so far is a tip of the iceberg. Economy: He says oil price had crashed from over $100 per barrel to about $28. Funds that would have found their way into private pockets are now accruing to government courtesy of the TSA. This administration neither lacks the political will or discipline to fulfill its electoral promises. In the coming weeks, the conditional cash transfer will commence, the free meal, vocational training and so on would also begin.”
11:06AM
While the representatives of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) was delivering her opening speech, Audu Ogbeh, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, arrived.
The anchor announces that each minister would give a brief presentation of their promises and achievements, followed by resources persons analysing their presentations, followed by the audiences’ questions. Mr Mohammed will the first to speak.
10:53AM
Idayat Hassan, Director, Centre for Democracy and Development, kicks off the session with her opening remarks. “That all invited government officials are here today represents a shift from the past. “We believe that the quality of citizenship determines the quality of governance. “The Muhammadu Buhari campaign made 221 distinct promises across security, corruption and economy. “Buharimeter does policy monitoring and analysis to give feedback to the community.”
10:18AM
The programme has begun. So far, four ministers have arrived – Lai Mohammed (Information and Culture), Babatunde Fashola (Works, Power, and Housing), Udo Udoma (Budget and National Planning) and Amina Mohammed (Environment). Audu Ogbeh (Agriculture and Rural Development) is still being expected, Premium Times reports.
