Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has set a solid foundation for the nation’s economic recovery.

Stating some of the milestones of the government, he said the Buhari-administration had spent N1.3 trillion on capital projects in 2016, making it the highest in the history of the country.

He made this known at the 2017 Nigerian Bar Association’s Annual General Conference which held in Lagos with the theme: 'African Business: Penetrating Through Institution Building.'

In a plenary session with the sub-theme, ‘Conversations with the Vice-President,’ moderated by Miss Zain Asher, a CNN news anchor, the Vice President answered questions ranging from the state of the nation’s economy to the power sector and even the problem of corruption.

Osinbajo said: “We were dealing with a mono-economy relying on one major export or natural resource and a financial industry that was essentially opaque."

He, however, said that the administration had set a foundation for rebuilding the economy, creating the Single Treasury Account (TSA), monitoring government’s spending and modifying the tax system to be more efficient and implementing executive orders.

On whether Nigerians in the rural areas had felt the impact of the reforms, Osinbajo said most northern states had embraced diversification as a result of which they had witnessed a lot of transformation.

“For the economy, we are going to see a tripling in the harvesting of rice. Pprosperity is returning to some states like Kebbi and Zamfara.

“The rural areas where the highest level of poverty is experienced, there is a turnaround as the highest number of people who went for 2017 hajj were farmers.

“There is a lot of export of agricultural products, what we need to do is to engage in more value-added exports and we have quite a few investors,” he disclosed.

On the issue of corruption, the Vice President encouraged more private-sector participants in businesses. He noted that government ownership of business encouraged corruption. He also advocated a multi-sectoral collaboration to deal with the problem of corruption.

Overall, the VP noted that the projections going forward look good and the country has a bright future ahead. (Channels TV)

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