The Federal Government on Thursday said the National Development Plan (2021-2025) would be officially launched soon, following its recent approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, disclosed this on Thursday while addressing national steering committee members of the Open Government Partnership, OGP, in Abuja.
Agba said he was waiting for the approval date from the presidency.
Speaking about the new plan, Agba said: “This is truly a National Development Plan because the issues of inclusivity, participation of citizens were key in the way the plan was put together.
“Looking at the various diversities of the country, the main players were all involved in the development of the Plan.
“More importantly, is that the Plan is being driven by the organized private sector.
“If you look at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) today, it is about 92% of the private sector; the role that we played as government functionaries is that we provided and facilitated the required logistics.
“We had the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, NACCIMA, Women Council, Youth Group. They were all involved, including Civil Society organizations and various religious groups, the physically challenged group and more importantly, the 36 States and FCT were all involved.
“The 774 Local Government Areas, the labour unions were all involved in the development of the Plan.
“One of the things that make the Plan unique is that we are having three volumes of the Plan.
“Volume one is the main Plan itself. Volume Two is the prioritized programmes and projects that have been costed and Volume three is the legislative imperatives. There are laws that need to change for effective implementation of the Plan.”
He noted that sub-nationals were issuing their own laws which were at variance with what the Federal Government was doing.
Agba said that the private sector was expected to fund the projects captured in the plan to the tune of N300 trillion, while the federal government would provide N30 trillion; states and local government areas would provide N20 trillion.
He pointed out that these funds could only come from the private sector if the enabling environment and Ease of Doing Business were created.
The minister warned that as long as Nigeria had agencies that used their discretionary powers to make things difficult for the private sector as well as engage in multiple taxations, the private sector would not thrive.
He further disclosed that sports had been taken away from the Ministry of Youth under the new plan, adding that rural development had also been taken away from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
Agba noted that sports would be expected to generate revenue and contribute to the nation’s GDP.
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