India, taking large numbers of people out of poverty. We think that these schemes will work here if they are faithfully and diligently implemented. What we have been able to do so far is 2 million people; we are merely scratching the surface.

There is some cheering news, the programme recently won the AfDB prize for financial inclusion. And we think that there is room for improvement. How do we scale up? We found that there is diligence in repayment, people found that they will get more when they repay their loans.

Let me speak quickly to what will be done differently on implementation of government plans in this dispensation. After the Presidential Policy Dialogue preceding the inauguration of Ministers, the President developed a list of specific mandates for each ministry. Each of those mandates has clearly spelt out action points. Every minister has a mandate with action points, some of the mandates have 7 or 8 points. The ministers are to render their first reports on performance in December. So, in some sense we are moving to a more measurable way of determining where ministers are going and what they ought to do. Of course, there would be challenges of funding, clarity of plans etc.

The full and effective performance of these mandates is, of course, an implementation challenge. We look forward to your contributions on the journey.

Let me again commend the NIM for these many years of provoking thought and action on making our nation work for the benefit of all.

Just a thought as I take my seat, reading the Code of Conduct of the NIM, it is so elegant that if just those of us in this room, including myself, could comply with that code, this country will be completely different. So, I throw the challenge to the NIM to walk the talk.

So, it is now my special pleasure to declare open this annual conference of the Nigerian Institute of Management 2019 for the benefit of all Nigerians. Thank you very much.

Released by:

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity
Office of the Vice President

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