Tag Archives: UDOMA

Nigeria determined to overcome recession this year – Udoma

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Nigeria is determined to emerge from its first recession in a quarter of a century this year and needs to put more effort in revamping its infrastructure, its budget minister said on Wednesday.

Udoma Udo Udoma said the economy was beginning to recover after it experienced a smaller contraction in the fourth quarter, although it was still in a recession.

“The 2017 budget is structured to do just that … we are anxious to get the budget passed so that we can begin the implementation and begin to take all the steps we need to get the economy out of recession,” he told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

We’re building on Vision 2020 to get out of recession, says Udoma

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Udo Udoma, minister of budget and national planning, says the economic plan of the federal government to pull the country out of recession builds on the previous development plans, particularly the Vision 20-2020.

Briefing the national assembly about the plan —National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (NERGP) — on Wednesday, Udoma said the need for the plan and its effective implementation was all the more imperative, especially given the current state of the economy.

Recalling that the country has had several beautifully-packaged but hardly-implemented economic plans in the past, he said efforts must be made to ensure that the new plan does not eventually suffer the fate of its predecessors.

To ensure the NERGP does not go the way of others, he disclosed that government was putting in place a specially staffed delivery unit that will drive implementation of the NERG Plan through effective monitoring and evaluation.

The NERGP focuses on five broad areas: macroeconomic policy, economic diversification and growth drivers, competitiveness, social inclusion and jobs, and governance and other enablers.

Acknowledging receipt, and confirming consideration of earlier inputs from the national assembly, he told the lawmakers, drawn mainly from the relevant committees of the two chambers, that “we are here to consult you in a more organized and focused way so as to further enrich the plan with further inputs from you”.

He told them that the plan is national in nature and will require inputs from the National Assembly and the sub-national governments.

The time-frame for the plan is 2017 to 2020 and all subsequent annual budgets under the Buhari Administration will be driven by the NERGP.

“This plan builds on the previous development plans the country has developed, particularly the Vision 20-2020,” Udoma said.

“The development of this plan is part of a process we have been working on since we came into government. We started with the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) for the 2016 budget.”

He explained that regarding the NERGP, consultations had been held with several stakeholders, including a retreat involving representatives of the private sector, academia, government officials and other stakeholders, which generated very insightful ideas on issues to consider in the plan.

“We also held a roundtable with the Honourable Commissioners and Permanent secretaries of State’s Ministries of Economic Planning and Budget, as well as our Development Partners,” he said.

“It is a medium-term plan (2017-2020), which is expected to drive Nigeria to a minimum growth rate of 7% within the plan period.

“However, the fact that we are in recession means that the plan is one that must also be designed to get us quickly out of recession. The NERGP therefore fulfills the dual goal of identifying short-term recovery initiatives to get us quickly out of recession, as well as presenting a medium-term growth plan.

“Our goal is to have an economy with low inflation, stable exchange rates, and a diversified inclusive growth. The proposed initiatives prescribed by the plan address the country’s poor competiveness, and are designed to improve the business environment and attract investment in infrastructure. Jobs and social inclusion are also key deliverables of the plan.”

Gershom Bassey, the chairman of the session, who is also the vice chairman of the senate committee on petroleum upstream, spoke on the need to focus on some very strong points of the economy, as trying to address all the economic challenges at once may be counter-productive.

Economic Recovery Plan Ready by December – FG

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The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has said that the national economic recovery plan for the next three years will be ready next.

She explained at an economics communications workshop in Abuja on Thursday that the plan would serve as a guide for the preparation of annual budgets and would be a continuation of the initiatives contained in the Strategic Implementation Plan for the 2016 budget.

According to her, the plan will clearly state the economic policies of the government that will guide the investment decisions by domestic and foreign investors.

Ahmed said, “The plan is expected to build on the policies, initiatives, programmes and projects contained in the Strategic Implementation Plan for the 2016 budget. The economic recovery plan is expected to guide the economic management and budgeting process over the short to medium-term.

“Government will continue to put in place policies to expand the revenue base, plug leakages in the system, ensure greater transparency and accountability in the use of public funds, pursue job creation and support businesses and investments, especially local investments to grow.

“Approach adopted for the preparation of the plan is highly participatory and all-inclusive, with the private sector being actively involved in the process.”

In his keynote address, the Chief Executive Officer, Economic Associates, Dr Ayo Teriba, proposed a holistic approach to economic reform to encourage the inflow of foreign direct investment rather than demand restriction or price adjustment.

He identified the Diaspora funds as an immediate and steady source of foreign currencies and extensive infrastructural development as sources of the FDI in the long term.

Teriba explained that the impressive foreign investment and growth experienced in the telecommunications sector since 2001 could be allowed in other critical sectors.

He called for the liberalisation of the power sector, rail transport, gas pipelines, power transmission and housing, among others.

The economist suggested an integrated infrastructural development in which pipelines could be constructed underneath the rail tracks and power transmission network above the rail tracks.

The policy directive needed, according to him, is to break government’s monopoly across all infrastructure and allow foreign investors to play more role.

He said, “The experience of the telecoms companies that arrived in Nigeria in 2001 when the government liberalised the sector that had been a government monopoly since independence is a testament to the huge growth and investment opportunities that Nigeria presents.

“Nigeria had only 300,000 telephone lines in 2001, but these companies have raised that number to more than 160 million today.”