Abuja
The federal government has disclosed that it is targeting $25billion new investments for critical projects to be spread across the country. Also, all is set for the launch of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) laboratory next month, driven to reposition Nigeria at 100th position in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking by 2020.
Speaking yesterday at a briefing on the 2017-2020 ERGP, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, told federal lawmakers that President Muhammadu Buhari will launch the focused laboratory on March 5, 2018.
The event was organised by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. Udoma explained that the labs which will function for a period of six weeks will focus on three critical sectors of the economy namely: Agriculture and Transportation, Manufacturing and Processing as well as Power Gas Supply.
He said participants will be drawn from public sector operators and private sector investors, including; those willing to commit N100million worth of new investments in any of the three critical sectors, and those whose existing projects in the three selected areas are stalled due to bureaucracy of government among others.
The minister listed the three broad strategic objectives of the Plan to include: growth restoration, investment in human capital as well as building a globally competitive economy.
According to him, the ERGP aims that by 2020, Nigeria will be ranked 100th in the Ease of Doing Business Index, inflation rate of 9.9 percent and GDP of 7 per cent. Nigeria ranked 145th in the Index in 2017 as against 169th in 2016 and 170th in 2015 respectively.
In his presentation, Idris Jala, Chief Executive Officer of PEMANDU Associates, who headed the Malaysian Performance Management Team, also shared the country’s transformation journey. On his part, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu called for inclusive growth, even as he expressed the support of the National Assembly to the Plan. Also in his remarks, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, called for a single interest rate to people with big ideas to develop the economy.
