FG calls on private sector to assist the implementation of national development plans

The federal government has enjoined the private sector to work closely with government to bring to fruition Agenda 2050 economic blueprint being developed by the government.

Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba made the call at the EU-Nigeria Business Forum (EUNBF) on Thursday in Lagos

The minister said the Agenda 2050 was at final stage and pleaded with critical stakeholders and the private sector for successful implementation of the National Development Plan 2021-2025.

Advertisement

According to the Minister, the Forum entitled: “Nigeria and the New Economy,” with focus on development of the gas sector and the opportunities for increased gas exports to Europe, development of agriculture and others, was apt.

“These are important sectors for Nigeria as they aligns with government policies and efforts in economic diversification,” he said.

Prince Clem recalled that before now, Nigerian economy was mono dependent.

“At the height of oil, it accounted for about 90% of revenue, 95% of foreign exchange earnings and 48% of GDP. However, in the last five years, the current administration has changed the above scenario with non oil revenue now accounting for about 70% of revenue against 30% by oil.

“The contribution of oil to GDP has fallen to about 7.8%. For a while now, due to the Ukrainian war, oil is contributing almost zero to revenue due to under-recovery or under-priced sales of premium motor spirit (PMS) generally called oil subsidy.

“Having successfully diversified the economy, the National Development Plan 2021-2025 focuses on concentric diversification of the economy. It promotes value addition, mechanization, robotics and artificial intelligence needed to expand and enhance the product space and complexities in various sectors such as Agriculture, Oil and Gas, Culture, Creative, Hospitality and Tourism (CCHT) etc.

“For Example, a diversified energy sector with strong emphasis on renewables and energy mix is necessary in ensuring sustainable development. The estimated potential of 427,000MW of solar power and photovoltaic generation means Nigeria has enormous renewable energy opportunities.”

He explained that the National Development Plan 2021-2025, aimed to unlock Nigeria’s potential in all sectors of the economy for a sustainable, holistic and inclusive national development.

He stated: “The Plan identified critical macro-structural issues affecting concentric economic diversification and proffered strategies for addressing them. The robust macroeconomic framework developed for the plan recognized that sectors have differing potentials for growth and thus identified and leveraged on those sectors with the highest potentials for stimulating the growth of the Nigerian economy.

“Some of the sectors with high growth potentials and linkages are Agriculture And Food Security, Integrated Rural Development, Manufacturing And Industrialisation, Oil And Gas, Solid Minerals, Mining And Steel Development, Culture, Creative, Hospitality And Tourism (CCHT), and Business Environment, Trade And Competitiveness while Transportation, Power And Alternative Energy, Housing And Urban Development, Digital Economy, Science, Technology and Innovation, Financial Sector among others are the enablers.

“Some of the specific targets of the Plan are to improve GDP growth to 5.0 percent on the average during the Plan period; raise Government revenue to 15 percent of GDP by 2025; generate 21 million jobs; and lift at least 35 million Nigerians out of poverty, thus setting the stage for achieving the government’s commitment of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.

“The Plan is unique from other previous Plans in many respects. The development of the Plan was not only participatory and consultative but inclusive involving all critical stakeholders. A bottom-up approach was adopted. It is also made up of three volumes. Volume I contains the policies with targets and the required investment; Volume II has the costed priority programmes and projects; while Volume III is the legal and legislatives imperatives, which includes the enabling laws that need to be passed or amended for effective implementation of the NDP, 2021-2025.”