Osinbajo inaugurates Labs Working
Groups, charge members on commitment
Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
The Minister of Budget and
National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, disclosed yesterday that the
Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) will focus on mobilising private
investment projects to meet its $245 billion investments and 15 million job
creation targets by 2020.
Udoma’s disclosure came as the
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo inaugurated the Core Working Groups of the
ERGP Focus Labs with a charge to stakeholders to work collaboratively
determined to get new investment commitments and assisting investors think
through implementation.
Speaking at the inauguration,
which held at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, Udoma explained that
although significant work had been done on the ERGP Implementation, and in the
right direction, he said the pace and more work needed to be intensified to
achieve targets.
The minister pointed out that
since it was not feasible to rely on government to fund required investments on
its own due to current fiscal deficit, private investment was therefore key to
catalysing growth.
“We have therefore chosen to
conduct Focus Labs in three selected areas to deliver quick and fast results on
investments and job creation,” he said.
According to Udoma, the labs are
intended to achieve two main objectives, including new investments for critical
projects and resolution of complex inter-agency problems that inhibit private
sector investment.
The ERGP Focus Labs, he
explained, are not meant to replace existing sectoral roadmaps and plans, but
meant to identify entry projects to act as showcase to bring back investor
confidence to Nigeria.
The ERGP, he added, will focus on
mobilising private investment projects to meet the USD 245 billion investments
and 15 million job creation targets by 2020.
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Giving an insight into how the
labs are configured, the minister noted that for specified sectors like
agriculture and transportation the lab will seek to increase private sector
investments in select crops and products (agro-business) while investment along
the transport corridors will target rail, roads and ports.
For manufacturing and processing,
the lab will look to increase private sector investments in selected
manufacturing sub-sectors and products as well as the processing of selected
solid minerals in Nigeria.
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For the power and gas sector, the
lab, Udoma stated, will look to increase private sector investments in the
power sector such as electricity generation across its value chain and energy
mix as well as the gas industries including expansion of domestic market.
Inaugurating the Core Working
Groups of the ERGP Focus Labs, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, charged
the stakeholders to work collaboratively as a unit focused on getting new
investment commitments and assisting investors think through implementation.
He said the working group
comprising senior public officers from the six pilot ministries and their
agencies, has the rare privilege of contributing to the national assignment by
providing sector expertise and working with the ERGP Implementation Unit to
successfully plan the three initial labs and address inter-agency bottlenecks
investors might bring to the labs.
The ERGP focus labs, Osinbajo
stated, are among the targeted initiatives of the present administration that
drive the three pillars of its medium-term plan – restoring growth, building a
competitive economy and investing in the people.
He applauded the implementation
of the ERGP less than one year after its launch by President Muhammadu Buhari,
noting that it has resulted in early wins, from the targeted exit from
recession in the second quarter of 2017 to improved stability in the fiscal and
monetary markets.
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“As mentioned by the Minister of
Budget and National Planning, most of our macro indices are trending upwards
but a lot more needs to be done, and this administration will definitely not
relent until we bring these headline improvements to visibly impact the
majority of our citizenry,” he stated.
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Osinbajo said since the intent of
the focus labs are primarily to drive new investments that create jobs for the
people across the 36 states of the federation, all hands must be on deck to get
the labs project right.
He explained that the Central
Steering Committee comprising nine cabinet ministers in Agriculture, Transport,
Solid Minerals; Industry Trade and investment; Power Works and Housing;
Petroleum Resources, Finance, Justice and Budget and National Planning were
tasked with steering the labs and ensuring active collaboration with the
private sector to remove inhibitions that may have impeded some of the priority
projects that they want to invest in, but which have remained on the drawing
board for a long time.
While commending members of the
ERGP Implementation Team and all those who have been working towards the labs,
the Vice President reaffirmed the commitment of the president to the labs’
initiative and look forward to joining in the working sessions ahead of the
commencement of the labs in March.
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In his remarks after the
inauguration, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okey Enelamah,
emphasised the need for commitment by all concerned to realise the objective of
the project, pointing out that the challenge Nigeria often faces was not
crafting good plans, but that of diligent implementation.
He also charged members of the
groups to approach the assignment from the perspective of “the right thing, not
the right person” as there will be no “high tables, but work tables ”
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