The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Technical and Recreational Employees (AUPCTRE) branch of the Investment and Security Tribunal (IST) has commenced an indefinite strike.

AUPCTRE-IST Branch Secretary, Mr Diepiribo Briggs, spoke with newsmen at IST office during a protest and picketing of the branch on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that the strike would not be called off until the union’s demands were met.

The union had in January embarked on a warning strike over alleged infractions such as discriminatory payment of staff allowances, non-adherence to Public Procurement Act 2017, staff promotion arrears and non-adherence to due process in recruitment.

Also listed were intimidation and victimisation of staff, high-handedness, impunity among others.

“ Issues of staff promotion arrears are not yet addressed as he was directed by the Minister of Finance.

“He recruited in new staff in December last year without following due process and the Minister asked him to reverse it and he has not done that.

“The recruitment should be reversed; discriminatory payment of allowances should be corrected, promotion examination should be conducted to clear the backlog of same.

“We will not call off this strike until all our demands are met,’’ he said.

Comrade Aliyu Maradun, Chairman, FCT AUPCTRE, who led the picketing of the office, pledged to stand with the staff of IST until all their demands are met.

NAN

Ten thousand women in Ekiti State are to get N20,000 each from the Ayodele Fayose administration at this year’s Women’s Day celebration.

Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Dr. Modupe Alade said beneficiaries would get the cash in the first phase of the administration’s Women Empowerment Programme.

Speaking yesterday on the state television programme, Day Break Nigeria, Mrs. Alade stressed that “N200 million had been made available by the state government for the empowerment”.

The SSG said the 10,000 beneficiaries would get credit alert not later than Friday.

She added that the beneficiaries were selected from all sectors of the state without recourse to political affiliation.

Mrs. Alade said the era of relegating women to the background had gone.

She said no nation could advance without empowering the womenfolk.

The Nation 

Africa’s richest business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, on Tuesday described Lagos as the most convenient and peaceful state for doing business.

“I am not advertising for Lagos, but try another state, you will see hell,’’ he said in a terse remark at the forum of `Lagos Means Business’’.

He also supported the Governor Akinwumi Ambode’s appeal to Lagos residents and business community to continue to pay tax.

“You should pay your taxes to Lagos state,’’ Dangote said.

During the question and answer session, Ambode assured every Lagosian that he would make their taxes work for them with a transparent and incorruptible government with good value for taxes paid.

“We are not true citizens until we become responsible tax payers.Governor Ambode addresses `Lagos Means Business forum on Tuesday

“If the vision of a prosperous Lagos is to be achieved, the State must retreat from borrowing to finance its infrastructure and pay back later in the future with high interest rate.’’

He also appealed to residents to embrace the Land Use Charge and ensure that commercial property owners pay the charge.

The governor explained that pensioners, owner occupiers, NGOs, churches and Mosques are exempted from the payment of Land Use Charge.

“The good part of the arguments trailing the Lagos Land Use Charge is that the State Government is ready for dialogue and will welcome the complaints of dissatisfied members of the public in this regard.

“The good part of the arguments trailing the Lagos Land Use Charge is that the State Government is ready for dialogue.

“Business owners paying Land Use Charge should see it as part of their Corporate Social Responsibilities.’’

He also urged citizens to have a change of orientation on how government’s properties were handled.Some participants at Lagos Means  Business.

“The properties should be protected so that resources expended on repairs could be channelled to other areas of needs.’’

“Although the state spends a large chunk of its revenue on recurrent charges, but could not retrench civil servant.

“They are only about 103,000 taking care of 24 million people. They help to keep the social fabric together,’’ he said.

NAN

Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has declared that the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) has given the Federal Government access to data of Nigerians with hidden assets.

Mrs. Adeosun made this known while speaking on Good Morning Nigeria, a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) interview programme.

According to the minister, the ease with which people evade taxes and get away with it is no longer possible because of the huge data on property ownership.

The data, she said, were obtained from land registries, especially on properties in highbrow neighborhoods of Lagos and Abuja.

“We have cases whereby people live somewhere else other than where their properties are located. For example, you own a property in Lagos but reside in Rivers. In the past, we relied on the honesty of such person to make his asset declaration or income made therefrom. But now, we don’t have to because we have gathered data. Now, all such a person needs to do is to declare that rent earned and pay the right tax on it,” the minister said.

Mrs. Adeosun explained that through data collected, the Federal Government has detected many people whose lifestyle do not justify the tax they pay or who do not pay any at all.

She assured the citizens such people would not be prosecuted or made to pay their tax arrears if they file the proper returns and regularise their tax payment before the VAIDS deadline on March 31.

For those with assets abroad, the minister said the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI), to which Nigeria is signatory, will deliver data on such with or without a formal request.

“VAIDS is a very simple formula. It takes you through a process where you look at your assets and your lifestyle and if there is a disconnect, that means your tax status is irregular,” she said.

Asked about companies, the minister said: “Companies are also included. Using our data, we found, for example, lots of companies, which even got contracts from the Federal Government but didn’t declare those contracts or didn’t pay any tax on what they made. Or people who would prepare an invoice and add VAT but never remit the VAT to the FIRS.  So, those are the areas of non-compliance that people are correcting through VAID Scheme,” she said.

Mrs. Adeosun also restated the determination of the Federal Government to draw the curtains on the scheme on March 31.

She warned that there will be no extension.

On the scale of compliance, the minister said many individuals and corporate entities have expressed the willingness to declare, adding that a lot of people will come forward as the deadline draws really close.

This, she said, was the experience in five of the countries where tax amnesty programmes had been implemented.

The Nation 

The Plateau government has declared Thursday, March 8, a work-free day to enable residents welcome President Muhammadu Buhari on a one-day working visit to the state.

Mr Izam Azi, Head of Service, announced this on Tuesday in Jos, after an emergency State Executive Council meeting.

“The holiday will afford civil servants and other citizens the opportunity to give the President a rousing welcome,” Azi said.

Meanwhile, Mr Yakubu Dati, Commissioner for Information and Communication, has said that there would be restriction of movement during the visit, especially around areas the President would inaugurate projects.

Dati said that government had created alternative routes in affected areas, adding that security agencies would guide movements during the day.  

(NAN)

The abduction of 110 Dapchi schoolgirls and last week’s attack on Internally Displaced Persons’ camp in Rann, Borno State took the centre stage at yesterday’s national security summit in Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari vowed that the abduction of schoolgirls and the kind of attack on Rann in which humanitarian workers were killed by suspected Boko Haram insurgents would not be allowed to recur.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo represented the President at the National Defence College (NDC), Abuja venue of the  eighth edition of the National Security Seminar 2018 organised by the Alumni Association of the NDC in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the NDC.

The seminar had the theme “Fighting Tomorrows’ Warfare Today.”

Buhari urged the elite and the media to avoid creating fertile ground for clashes among Nigerians through “what is said and what is done”. He urged the elite to “hold Nigeria together by our actions and utterances as well as our values”.

President Buhari said the persistent attacks of the terrorists on soft targets, such as the kidnap of the girls and the incident at Rann were to create the impression that the terrorists were still very much around. He insisted  that compared to when he took over the reins in 2015, the insurgents had been effectively degraded.

The President said since the kidnap of the girls, the Armed Forces had been fully mobilised to Borno and Yobe states to ensure the security and safety of the people as well as schools.

He said: “Boko Haram, as we all know, rejects authority and strives to take over territory, to establish a caliphate in line with ISIS objectives. Between 2012 and 2015, they seemed to be well on their way to achieve their objectives by annexing some territory of Nigeria.

”As of March 2015, Boko Haram controlled about 20,000square kilometres of Nigeria, that is about the size of Belgium, from the eastern border of Cameroun to parts of Lake Chad. In Borno State, 20 out of 27 local government areas were under Boko Haram control, including Mubi in Adamawa and some villages.

”In addition to this, their footprints were registered in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano with the bombings of the UN building and Police HQ in Abuja .That was the state of affairs as of early 2015. Today, BH does not occupy any local government area in Nigeria. And they no longer have the capacity to hold a territory. and challenge the sovereignty of the state.

“Gone are the days they operated outside the precints of the northeast, leaving behind carnage and bloodshed. They are now operating as desperate criminal gang mostly in relics or groups taking over some communities, using children as suicide bombers, kidnapping innocent girls and children.”

President Buhari, who lauded the bravery of the Armed Forces, said Nigerians and the present administration would remain grateful to them for their sacrifice, stating that “as things are today, the situation would have been worse without the gallantry of our armed forces”.

President Buhari, who said the administration would rekindle the determination of the Armed Forces to subdue Boko Haram permanently, promised that a multi-dimensional approach would be adopted to tackle the insurgency.

According to him, the administration would strengthen the intelligence gathering capabilities of the Armed Forces, adopt cutting edge technology to fight the insurgents and develop counter narratives that would make recruitment of young men and women into the Boko Haram group impossible.

He also stated that besides the Safe School Initiative, the government would rebuild and secure communities destroyed by the insurgents, adding that all material conditions that make people take up arms against the state would be addressed.

Minister of Defence Mansir Dan Ali said the efforts of the military to rescue the Dapchi girls and the Chibok girls would take the centre stage. He said a satellite communications system and other technological method would be deployed to rescue the girls.

The minister was represented by Dr. Hassan Abdullahi a director in the ministry.

Dan-Ali said Boko Haram was taking advantage of technology, especially the social media platforms to create panic, terror and confusion in the society. He urged the Armed Forces to move ahead of them by doing away with analogue technology and embrace digital technology.

He also lamented that Nigeria’s reliance on foreign defence products was unhelpful in the fight against terror and other criminal activities, regretting that the cyber space is being dominated by criminals.

The Federal Government, Dan-Ali asserted, would not only partner with critical stakeholders to address the security challenges facing the country, but scientific and technological solutions would be adopted to defeat terror.

Dan-Ali acknowledged the loss of lives and livelihoods, destruction of farm lands across the country, the activities of cattle rustlers, as well as destruction of communities, promising that the government would do everything possible to restore hope and rebuild the affected areas.

Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, also yesterday restated the army’s commitment to rescuing the Dapchi girls.

Gen. Buratai, who spoke at the inauguration of the newly-completed office complex in the 6 Division of the Army in Port Harcourt, said: “The search for the 110 missing school girls from Dapchi is an ongoing  process.

“Definitely, everybody is concerned and we are doing our best in finding the missing school girls.”

Gen. Buratai also debunked the claims that the Boko Haram insurgents had  regrouped and  now control a large territory in the Northeast.

He said there was “nothing like resurgence ’’, adding that  “one or two incidents’’ could not be interpreted as  resurgence.

“It is the responsibility of everybody to join hands and knowing that it is not entirely a military responsibility but a collective task.

“Every facet of our society needs to be part of this fight against terrorism. It is a national disaster and calamity which we must all join hands to defeat,” Gen. Buratai said.

The Nation 

The Heads of six International Election Observation Missions (IEOMs), including ECOWAS, Tuesday in Freetown, called on all Sierra Leone stakeholders to ensure peaceful and credible elections on Wednesday March 7.

In their two-page joint statement on the eve of the crucial presidential, parliamentary and local Council polls, the IEOMs – ECOWAS, African Union (AU), The Commonwealth, Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), European Union (EU), and The Carter Center (TCC), also urged the political leaders, parties and their supporters to respect the rule of law during balloting and through the results tallying process.

They further urged them to uphold their commitments under the ‘Freetown Declaration’, which was signed by presidential candidates on 28 February.

The IEOMs “encouraged the candidates to accept the outcome of the elections in line with Article 9 of the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance (2001) and, in the event of complaints or disputes, encourage candidates to seek redress through legal channels whilst at all times refraining from acts of violence and intimidation.”

They called on the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and party polling agents “to conduct their duties in a professional manner,” to ensure that “the elections are transparent, credible and conducted in accordance with prescribed laws and regulations.”

The Missions “Look to the government of Sierra Leone to uphold its constitutional obligations to provide a secure environment that guarantees the safety of candidates, voters, NEC officials and electoral materials,” and urged the security personnel to demonstrate professionalism and enforce the law in a neutral and proportional manner.”

The meeting was attended by Prof Amos Sawyer, Liberia’s former Interim President and Head of ECOWAS Mission, South African former President, Kgalema Motlanthe, Head of the AU Mission; Ghana’s former President, John Mahama, Head of the Commonwealth Mission; Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Jonathan, Head of EISA Mission; Ms. Jean Lambert, Head of EU Mission and Mr Larry Garber, for The Carter Center.

Also present was the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Gen. Francis Behanzin, who is leading the ECOWAS Commission’s Technical Support Team for the Prof. Sawyer-led 65-member ECOWAS Observation Mission.

The IEOMs, which have deployed more than 250 international observers across Sierra Leone’s 16 Administrative Districts, wished the “citizens of Sierra Leone well in the exercise of their democratic rights; and pledged our unequivocal commitment to support the people of Sierra Leone to ensure a peaceful and credible conclusion of the electoral process.”

Sierra Leone’s 3.17 million registered voters out of an estimated population of seven million, will cast their ballots in 11,122 polling states across the country on March 7, to elect a new president to replace outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma; and 132 members of the 144-seat Parliament.

{gallery}slpoll{/gallery}

The civil society under the umbrella of the National Election Watch (NEW) is deploying one citizen observer to each of the 11.122 polling stations in 3,300 Polling Centres nationwide.

These are the fourth elections since the end of the country’s devastating civil war in 2002, but the first time that Sierra Leone authorities would take charge of the electoral process since the departure of the UN Mission in 2014.

Sixteen candidates including two women are vying for the presidency, while 789 contenders, including less than 120 women are competing for the parliamentary positions.

Meanwhile, the National Electoral Commission (NEC), Sierra Leone said on Tuesday that all was set for successful elections on Wednesday adding that all essential and non-essential materials had been distributed with the Commission would deploying some 84,000 polling officers to the 3,300 polling stations nationwide.

Speaking at a press conference in Freetown NEC Chairman Mohamed N’fah Alie-Conteh urged political parties to respect the electoral laws and refrain from political campaigns, which officially ended on Monday.

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday assured his Ghanaian counterpart, Nana Akufo-Addo, of Nigeria’s support to Ghana in tackling the menace of endemic corruption.

The Nigerian President said that with the right leadership and implementation of good public policies, Africa’s drive to eradicate poverty and entrench democracy is on course.

Buhari, who was the special guest of honor at Ghana’s 61st Independence Anniversary celebration at Accra’s Independence Square, noted that the menace of corruption had eaten into the fabric of both countries.

In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, President Buhari said Nigeria and Ghana were benefiting immensely from leaders committed to improving their economies and tackling corruption.

Buhari commended President Akufo-Addo on his achievements in his first year of office, lauding the Ghanian leader’s commitment to fighting corruption and the passing of the Special Prosecutors Bill into law.

“From Nigeria, I have watched closely your achievements, ranging from your ingenious approach to creating jobs for the teeming youths through various initiatives, including the repositioning of agriculture for modern farming, ‘Farming for Jobs and Food’, Senior High School (SHS) free education, One-District-One-Factory, and One-Village-One-Dam as well as the improvement being recorded in the Republic’s macroeconomic indicators,” Buhari stated.

“All these efforts, I am aware, have made Ghana to become a good destination for foreign direct investment just like Nigeria. Accept my congratulations!

‘‘I congratulate both the government and the Parliament for the quick passage of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act and its signing into law.

‘‘Your Excellency can be assured that you have a good partner in me as I look forward to any form of collaboration between Nigeria and Ghana in tackling the menace of endemic corruption.

‘‘Given all these public policies, it becomes reassuring that with the right leadership, Africa’s drives to eradicate poverty and to entrench democracy is on course,” he said.

President Buhari, recounted the historic and cultural ties between Nigeria and Ghana, urging citizens of both West African countries to uphold their fraternal bonds.

“It is, therefore, my strong desire that we owe it as a duty to ensure that our good peoples continue to live in each other’s countries unhindered.

“Our newly rejuvenated Permanent Joint Commission for Cooperation has already provided us with good platform in resolving any differences while focusing on our main developmental objectives,” he said.

“Permit me to put on record Ghana’s untiring efforts in brokering peace in Togo, by bringing all the warring parties to the negotiation table. I am appealing to the opposing parties in Togo to please come together and resolve their differences so that Togo will move forward.

“In the same vein, I wish Nigeria and Ghana to continue to provide the impetus in realising the objectives and ideals of the founding fathers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to ensure security, peace and development of our region,” he said.

Sun

It is sixty-one years today since our nation Ghana won her independence, and it is fitting that we should gather to celebrate the anniversary of this special day.

I extend, on behalf of all Ghanaians, a warm welcome to our guest of honour, that sterling champion of the battle against one of Africa’s most pernicious diseases, corruption in public life, Muhammadu Buhari, President of the great Federal Republic of Nigeria, and his delegation. We are delighted that he has accepted our invitation to share this special day with us. Nigeria oman panyin, Muhammadu Buhari, yɛ ma wo ni wo ahokafuor akwaaba surunko. Sanda zua, Muhammadu Buhari, shuugaban kasa Nigeria, da mutaanin ka.

Last year, at the 60th independence anniversary, I announced that, on my way here, I had cut the sod for the construction of a National Cathedral, which would serve as an inter-denominational place of worship for important national occasions. This year, I am happy to announce, that, on my way here, I have unveiled the beautiful design of the cathedral that has been done by the world-acclaimed Ghanaian architect, David Adjaye. God will see the project through for us.

At its birth, great things were expected of this nation of ours, and even greater things were expected of those who would have the honour to be called Ghanaians. This is the country, after all, that blazed the trail for independence on the African continent, and, with it, came a grave responsibility to be forever used as a measure of how the continent was doing.

In many ways, we rose to the occasion. The many and varied peoples that came together, through happenstance or deliberate actions, to form the modern state of Ghana, have crafted a common identity.

We might be Dagartis, Sissalas, Dagombas, Mamprusis, Gonjas, Konkombas, Frafras, Grusis, Kusasis, Gas, Krobos, Ewes, Fantes, Denkyiras, Gomoas, Guans, Nzemas, Ahantas, Sefwis, Akyems, Akwamus, Akuapems, Kwahus, Brongs or Ashantis; we might sometimes even lapse into ancient rivalry modes; but, as Ghanaians, we are comfortable in our skin.

This sense of identity shows in our clothes, in our foods, in our music and in our politics. Sixty one years after this nation pledged itself to the total liberation of the continent, in the immemorial words of our first leader, Kwame Nkrumah, on that unforgettable night of 5th March, 1957, at the Old Polo Grounds, a few hundred yards from here, that “our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa”, we have remained faithful to our pan-African vocation. We know that our struggle for economic growth and independence cannot be for our nation alone, but for the entire African continent. A few weeks ago, in the hallowed halls of the United States Congress, as their President came to deliver the State of the Union Address, a group of congressmen and women wanted to make a statement of support for African nations. They draped kente strips over their clothing, and that said it all.

Ghana’s kente has come to identify the African continent and its peoples. The kente best spells out the fact that we are a dynamic people, unafraid to put our best foot forward, and unafraid constantly to adapt our cultures and traditions. We wear it with pride and in style.

That quintessential Ghanaian patriot, scholar and cultural icon, Ephraim Amu, would certainly be looking on now with admiration and satisfaction. At least, as far as clothing is concerned, we seem to have accepted his admonitions to be self-reliant, and to take pride in what was ours, rather than copy others. During his time, Owura Amu fought a lonely battle but, today, it seems strange to us that anyone ever suggested that you had to be dressed in European-style clothes to be accepted as a scholar or even to show up in church.

Apart from the physical, outward things that identify us, there are the more subtle, but important things that define us as Ghanaians. Everybody’s list will doubtless be different. Let me cite a few of my favourite ones: we are a hospitable people, we make strangers and visitors feel at home, it is part of our DNA.

We Ghanaians look out for each other even in modern, chaotic urban settings, and even when we find ourselves outside our country. We still regard the upbringing and training of children as a group responsibility for the public good, and the most sophisticated amongst us is not embarrassed to show respect to the elderly.

We might have become famous or infamous for being great travellers, who can be found in all parts of the globe, but I can safely say that, deep inside us, we love our country. We love Ghana. We take seriously the words of our national motto, and have a passionate love for freedom and justice.

Fellow Ghanaians, there is a long list of honoured personalities that have played remarkable roles in getting Ghana to where she is today. Many of them have been publicly acknowledged, and justifiably honoured in various ways. The role of the Big Six – Joseph Boakye Danquah, Emmanuel Obetsebi Lamptey, Edward Akufo-Addo, William Ofori-Atta, Ebenezer Ako Adjei, and Kwame Nkrumah, our first President who led us to independence – in the struggle for and attainment of independence will never be forgotten. There are others such as George “Paa” Grant, Komla Agbeli Gbedema and Kojo Botsio, whose efforts deserve to be acknowledged, and we should continue to give honour where it is due.

But I must also pay homage to the many Ghanaians, who simply continue to do their jobs and execute their tasks competently, without any fuss. They do not ask to be recognised or recompensed in any way.

For, as the Prime Minister of the erstwhile Progress Party Government of the 2nd Republic, Kofi Abrefa Busia, put it, and I quote: "It is by the devoted day-to-day service of many ordinary and unnoticed citizens that a nation achieves greatness." I pay homage to the many millions who routinely do what is right, what is virtuous in their daily activities to elevate the common good, and do not come to the attention of a President.

On a day such as this, when we celebrate the official start of our nationhood, we should also pay homage to those who have led the fight for individual freedoms. The fight that has made it possible for the present generation to believe that multi-party constitutional form of government is part of our makeup. The fight that led to the changing of the words of our National Anthem, in 1967, to include the sacred injunction to “help us to resist oppressors’ rule”. I pay homage to all those who have led the fight to resist oppressors’ rule every time attempts have been made to take our freedoms from us. I salute also those who insisted that the concepts of probity and accountability should be part of the governing principles of the Constitution of the 4th Republic, whose Silver Jubilee we celebrated on 7th January by an inter-faith service of thanksgiving to Almighty God, for having ushered us into the longest, uninterrupted period of stable, constitutional governance in our history.

Fellow Ghanaians, it is important that we never forget our history, and we try not to distort the truth about our past; the ugly and beautiful parts, they all deserve to be faithfully recorded and told. As our elders say, if you do not know where you are coming from, you are not likely to get to where you want to be. Our brothers and sisters in Nigeria probably capture it best: “to forget is the same as to throw away.”

We should make an honest assessment of ourselves, and the situation of our country and our continent. This puts a lot of responsibility on those who tell our daily stories. In these days of social media, the task is on all of us, and not only on the journalists and writers. A deliberate falsehood, posted on a social media platform, poses a great danger to all of us, and undermines the credibility of the Ghana story.

On a day such as today, our thoughts invariably stray to the past, but, as the 2nd President of the 4th Republic, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, once put it, and I quote: “we do not intend to live on past memories, nor the Ghana story to be only what can be seen on old newsreel tapes, nor our sporting glories to be recounted only through the exploits of past heroes”. To paraphrase Ephraim Amu, in that great, patriotic song, yen ara yen asaaseni, it is now our turn to build upon those past glories – aduru me ne wonso so, seyebeye bi atoa so. The litmus test is simple: every day must bring some improvement in our lives, today must be an improvement on yesterday, and our tomorrow must certainly be better than our yesterday.

Fellow Ghanaians, on this our sixty-first anniversary of our independence, it is important to remind ourselves that, around the time of our independence, we had peers such as Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore. Our per capita incomes were very similar at around four hundred and fifty United States dollars ($450) in 1960, and our economies were dependent on the production of primary commodities. Today, these countries, once our peers, have significantly transformed themselves into industrialised economies. Income per head in Singapore is now at fifty one thousand, four hundred and thirty one United States dollars ($51,431), South Korea at twenty nine thousand, one hundred and fifteen United States dollars ($29,115), and Malaysia at nine thousand, six hundred and twenty three United States dollars ($9,623) compared to Ghana’s at one thousand, one hundred and fifty two United States dollars ($1,512). We are still dependent on the export of primary commodities, as was the case at the time of Gordon Guggisberg. We must admit, sadly, that, in the area of economic development, we have underachieved, relative to our peers at independence. 

Even though underachievement may have been a major part of our history thus far, it should no longer be part of our destiny. The only nation we are destined to become is the one we choose, and decide to be. We do not have to accept someone’s definition of Africa or Ghana. We must define and craft our own destiny. As the American politician, William Jennings Bryan, once put it, and I quote: “Destiny is not a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”

But achieving our destiny requires a deliberate, qualitative change in all aspects of our lives; especially, in the structure of our economy, the nature of our infrastructure, the education of our young people and acquisition of skills, and, above all, in our attitudes and holding firm to the values that define us.

The change in our fortunes will only happen when our economy improves. Since I became President, I have been advocating for a Ghana, indeed, an Africa, Beyond Aid, and I am keen to have the support of all of us in this enterprise.

Nobody needs to spell it out to us that the economic transformation we desire will not come through aid. We have been on that trajectory for most of the past sixty one years, and it has not happened. We are told there is “aid fatigue”. The taxpayers of the aid-givers have a right to decide how their tax money is spent. The truth is that, even if there were no aid fatigue, and with the best will in the world and the most charitable governments in place in the so-called donor countries, there will never be enough aid to develop Ghana to the level we want. Aid was never meant to be what would bring us to the status of a developed nation.

I do not, by advocating a status Beyond Aid, want to inflict poverty on us, or thumb our noses against those who have helped us and continue to do so. There is nothing to be gained in celebrating an ideological victory in poverty. There is no pride or dignity in poverty; there is no dignity in having hungry children, or mothers dying needlessly in childbirth, and there is no dignity in drinking dirty water. We need no lessons in that.

My fellow Ghanaians, ours is a country that is well endowed with many natural resources such as gold, bauxite, iron ore, diamonds, oil, natural gas, timber, cocoa, water, fertile land etc. The truth, however, is that the state of our nation does not bear out that we have these natural endowments. Poverty continues to be our lot. Mismanagement, corruption and high fiscal deficits have become the hallmarks of our economy, which we finance through borrowing and foreign aid. 

It is time to pursue a path to prosperity and self-respect for our nation. A Ghana Beyond Aid is a prosperous and self-confident Ghana that is in charge of her economic destiny; a transformed Ghana that is prosperous enough to be beyond needing aid, and that engages competitively with the rest of the world through trade and investment. It is possible.

It is not a pie in the sky notion, because other countries, including some of our peers at independence, have done exactly that.  It is doable, and we must believe that, what others, with less resources, have done, we can do. 

However, we are not going to achieve the transformation in our economy, which is necessary for a Ghana Beyond Aid, by just talking about it. We have to DO something about it! 

As a start, we have to do things differently to realize this goal of a Ghana Beyond Aid.

Business as usual will not do it. It cannot happen by waving a magic wand. And it cannot be achieved overnight. Indeed, the most rapid cases of economic and social transformation in history, those in South East Asia, generally spanned a period of about 30 years; about a generation. We cannot wait that long; we have wasted enough time already. It is time to get on with it, and the time is now.     

You have heard me say on a number of occasions, I am a man in a hurry, but I am also a realistic man.  

To get to a Ghana Beyond Aid, we will have to harness effectively our own resources, and deploy them creatively and efficiently for rapid economic and social transformation. As I said in the Independence Day address last year, this will require “hard work, enterprise, creativity, and a consistent fight against corruption in public life”. It will also require that we break from a mentality of dependency and adopt a confident can-do spirit, fuelled by love for our dear country, Ghana.  We cannot subordinate the common good to build a prosperous nation to the selfish interest of a few.

Moving Ghana Beyond Aid means ensuring that future generations of Ghanaians have a healthy environment to inherit. We must, thus, be determined to protect our environment and water bodies by joining hands in the fight against illegal mining, also known as galamsey, in order to bring an end to the devastation of some of our landscape, and the pollution of our water bodies, occasioned by the activities of illegal miners. We have to win that fight to keep our environment clean, and protect our heritage for our descendants.

Fellow Ghanaians, we have started on the right path towards a prosperous future with the concrete steps we are taking to restore macro-economic stability and economic growth. After a year of disciplined and innovative economic management, the results have been remarkable. Our economy has grown from 3.6% in 2016, the lowest in 22 years, to 7.9% in 2017, and is this year expected to grow at 8.3%, which would make it the fastest growing economy in the world. Inflation has gone down from 15.6% at the end of 2016 to 10.3%, as of January this year. Ghanaian industry has witnessed a spectacular revival from a growth rate of negative 0.5% in 2016 to 17.7% in 2017. Interest rates are on the decline, the cedi is stabilising, and the fiscal deficit has gone down from 9.3% in 2016 to 5.6% of GDP in 2017, with a projection of 4.5% for 2018. Fiscal discipline has been restored, and fiscal consolidation has taken hold. For the first time since 2006, government has been able to meet its fiscal deficit target. We will continue to manage the economy in a disciplined and sound framework so that we maintain fiscal and debt sustainability. This, in the long run, is fundamental to moving Beyond Aid.

An improving, disciplined macro-economy is essential for expanding the economy, and, thereby, creating jobs. This year, we will see vigorous job creation in the public sector, beginning with the recruitment of one hundred thousand (100,000) young men and women in the Nation Builders Corp. But, what I am seeking, above all, is the rapid growth of private sector jobs, both in industry and agriculture, i.e. in the programme for Planting for Food and Jobs, which should generate a lot of rural sector jobs. Moving Beyond Aid demands that effective measures are taken to address widespread unemployment, especially amongst our youth. We are on the right path to do so. 

Fellow Ghanaians, corruption, or more specifically, the stealing of public funds, continues to hold back the development of our nation.  A recent audit by the Auditor General into the liabilities of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies led to the disallowance of some GH¢5.4 billion of claims. These are fictitious claims that would otherwise have had to be paid, but for the eagle eye of the Auditor General. Can you imagine what we can do with GH¢5.4 billion? It can certainly finance the Free SHS for five years.

Corruption is not a partisan matter, and we must all act to protect the public purse. In the words of the 1st President of the 4th Republic, His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings, and I quote: “Combating corruption is not beyond us. Imagine the effect on our nation and our future if, for just a few months, all decent Ghanaians would put aside their own convenience, apathy and faint-heartedness, and challenge every corruption, no matter how petty, which comes their way.” With the office of the Special Prosecutor now in place, we can expect more prosecutions for corruption in the coming months, and public officials, present and past, should be on notice that they would be held accountable for their stewardship of our public finances.

Government has also made, in 2017, significant savings of some GH¢800 million in government procurement, as we depart from sole sourcing as the primary method of public procurement. That departure will strengthen our public finances, and make it possible for us to finance our development ourselves.

There is, however, one piece of the anti-corruption framework that is yet to be put in place: The Right to Information Bill. It would increase transparency, and add another critical weapon to the armoury in the fight against corruption. After many years of hesitation, we intend to bring a Bill again to Parliament, and work to get it passed into law before the end of this Meeting of Parliament.  

The protection of the public purse is a social common good, and it depends on all of us. It is in all our interest that corruption does not thrive, and we police each other’s behaviour. Going Beyond Aid means Ghanaians should not serve as fronts for foreign companies to defraud our country. It will mean we all pay our taxes, as provided by law, and it will mean we all help to take care of government property, as though it were our own.  

Fellow Ghanaians, getting our country to a situation Beyond Aid means we add value to our exports, and stop the export of materials such as cocoa, gold, bauxite, manganese and oil in their raw state. Our cocoa farmers, for example, get less than 10% of the value of a bar of chocolate, and yet cocoa is the main ingredient. On the world market, bauxite in its raw form is worth about $42 per metric tonne. Processing it just one stage further into alumina oxide will fetch twice that amount. Refining the alumina oxide into alumina will increase the value by seven times, and smeltered aluminium fetches one hundred fold what it gets in the raw state. Aluminium, we are told, is the metal of the future.

It is for this reason that Ghana has, since independence, sought to establish an integrated bauxite and aluminium industry. Thus far, this has remained a fond hope. But we are determined to make it happen within the next three years. Work on the law establishing an Integrated Bauxite and Aluminium Development Authority is far advanced, and will be submitted to Parliament very shortly. Government also hopes to reach an agreement soon with potential partners to establish an alumina refinery, and expand the VALCO smelter. A successful execution of this project will be key in moving Ghana Beyond Aid, as will be the successful exploitation of our iron ore and manganese deposits to build a steel industry for our country and the region.

We are all aware of the vast sums of illicit financial flows from our continent that attend the exploitation of our natural resources, especially of our mineral wealth. We can no longer continue to blame others for that. We have to take our destiny into our own hands, and design and carry out the appropriate policies and measures that will ensure that we get our fair and proper share of the value of that wealth. Government will be rolling out such policies as an integral part of our determination to move Ghana Beyond Aid.        

Fellow Ghanaians, we have huge infrastructure needs in the areas of roads, bridges, water, electricity, housing, hospitals, schools, etc. The problem has always been where to find the money. However, where there is a will, there is a way. My government is going to implement an alternative financing model to leverage our bauxite reserves, in particular, to finance a major infrastructure programme across Ghana. This will probably be the largest infrastructure programme in Ghana’s history, without any addition to Ghana’s debt stock. It will involve the barter or exchange of refined bauxite for infrastructure. We expect to conclude this agreement and start its implementation this year. This will represent a paradigm shift in the financing of our development priorities, and make it possible for Ghana to move Beyond Aid.

Ladies and gentlemen, we now live in a digital world, and to be competitive, we have to be a part of and take advantage of digitization. Since assuming office last year, we have undertaken deliberate policy reforms to digitize Ghana to formalize our economy, and leapfrog in some key areas. The national identification and address system, the drivers licence and vehicle registration, the paperless operation at the ports, inter-operability of payment system in the financial sector, are all geared towards modernizing our economy, and we should begin to feel the difference when all these measures become operational this year. I am looking forward, particularly, to the digitization of the land registration process to help the mortgage market, and release hundreds of billions of cedis to finance our development.

Digitization would also allow the delivery of education and health services to remote areas, reduce corruption, expand the tax base, expand e-commerce, make credit more available as uncertainty is reduced for financial institutions, and increase domestic resource mobilization.

Fellow Ghanaians, at its core, the poverty gap is a technology gap. The mastery of technology is what, at the end of the day, separates developed from developing countries, or rich from poor countries. This is a gap we have to bridge. We are laying a strong foundation for an educated and skilled workforce of the future through the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme, which this academic year enabled 90,000 additional young Ghanaians to enrol in SHS. These are our future scientists, engineers, modern farmers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and transformation agents!

In the years ahead, the principal thrust of national development policy must be to ensure that science, technology and innovation drive all sectors of the economy. We are going to commit resources to basic and applied science and engineering, that should result in the development of the capacity to manufacture machinery, equipment and component parts for industry, agriculture, especially machinery for planting, harvesting and processing of produce.

Fellow Ghanaians, as a government committed to the growth of the private sector, we believe that the private sector should be the critical partner in moving Ghana Beyond Aid. In truth, part of our problem has been that government tries to do too much, tries to take on far too much beyond its capacity. There are many projects in roads, railways, water transport, agriculture, etc. which, if properly structured, will attract private sector financing. Key to attracting private sector investment is a conducive, business friendly and peaceful environment.

My dear fellow Ghanaians, all these plans and big dreams I have outlined will come to naught, if we do not have peace in our country. The primary requirement for prosperity is peace. The first obligation on any government is to ensure the safety and security of the citizenry.

As your president, this is an obligation I accept, and I am determined to discharge faithfully. The recent spate of armed robberies is totally unacceptable. I will work to ensure that citizens are able to go about their daily duties in the confidence that they are safe. No miscreant will have the space to terrorize citizens, and generate a sense of insecurity in our country. The police have the primary responsibility of maintaining peace and keeping law and order in our society, and, in exceptional cases, with the backing of the armed forces. The government is doing, and will do whatever it takes to enable the police discharge their duties effectively. We are providing the means for them to modernize their equipment, and learn modern methods of policing, and their numbers will be rapidly increased to match our growing population, and the sophistication and audacity of the criminals.

We should not forget that the police need the help and support of the community to be able to do their work. We dare not lose our reputation as a haven of peace and security. I urge you all to join in making sure there is no hiding place in our midst for those who would disturb our peace. For my part, I will do whatever is necessary, within the confines of the Constitution and the laws of the land, to ensure the peace of our country. Let us, on this joyous occasion, salute the leadership and the gallant men and women of our security forces, who, in the various Operations, Calm Life, Cow Leg, and Vanguard, are putting their lives on the line to protect our environment, and guarantee our safety and security. They are patriots, indeed.               

Fellow Ghanaians, Ghana Beyond Aid is meant to be more than a slogan. It is meant to propel us into the frame of mind that would quicken our pace of development. It is meant to change our mindset from one of dependency, to one of achieving our destiny. It is meant to put us in charge of our own affairs, and make us truly independent. Above all, Ghana Beyond Aid will give us the respect and dignity we deserve.

Let us believe in ourselves.

Let us believe in Ghana and in Africa.

God bless us all, God bless Mother Africa, and God bless our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong.

Thank you for your attention.

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