Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has assured Nigerians that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, has put policies in place that will improve the living standard of Nigerians just like it is obtained in other developed countries of the world.
The Vice President said this in his remarks while declaring open the 60th Annual Conference of the National Economic Society (NES), which started in Abuja on Monday, stressing the current government is in the process of developing a successor long term and medium-term development plan for the country.
Represented by the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning Clement Agba, the Vice President noted that the theme of the conference “Economic Policies and Quality of Life in Africa” was apt and “consistent with our national development priorities coming especially on the heels of our determination to address the economic and social challenges facing the nation.”
He pointed out that the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) was developed in response to the economic needs of the country at the beginning of the administration specifically to address the challenges in order to create a more inclusive society. “Government has continued to implement the Social Investment Programme (SIP). The sum of N500 billion has been appropriated annually for the SIP since 2016.
This implies the continued determination of the government to pursue an inclusive society. Policies such as the N.Power Scheme have seen 500,000 graduates and 26,000 non- graduates engaged,” he said.
He said further that Government was making efforts at revitalizing the textile industry in the country, adding that the Ministry and Industry, Trade and Investment is working closely with relevant stakeholder to achieve this purpose.
He said that through the Growth Enhancement Scheme irrigation projects, tractors, harvesters, improved seedlings among others are being distributed to farmers, adding that the Anchor Borrowers Programme supported by the Central Bank of Nigeria has assisted in boosting the agriculture value chain in the country.
He commended the NES for organizing the conference saying that it provides the opportunity to exchange ideas aimed at improving the overall economic management at both federal and state levels. The Chairman of the College of Fellows of NES, Phillip Asiodu, in his remarks, explained the importance of the NES to the economic development of the country.
He stressed that the Conference Position informed the basis of the 197074 National Economic Plan which put Nigeria on a positive economic growth trajectory. He however, lamented the economic backwardness and the concomitant poverty in the country in recent years, saying “it is very sad to look back that about sixty years Nigeria has failed to make progress despite the resource endowment.”
He called for a more articulate and patriotic leadership that would harness the resources of the country and transform its potential wealth and industrialize the country. President of NES Tamunopriye Agiobenebo, in his welcome remarks noted that the event would afford the stakeholders the opportunity to interrogate the economic challenges of the country and find ways of resolving them.
Earlier, during the pre-event briefing on Sunday, the NES President said oil sharing mentality had hampered Nigeria’s economic development even as he called on the government to activate the Eastern Ports in order to ease the congestion and gridlock being experienced at the Apapa Port in Lagos.
He lamented that all the ports in the Eastern part of the country are idle stressing, that if the Port system is decentralized, it will go a long way in reducing the gridlock in Lagos ports and create more jobs in the country.
“All the Eastern Ports are idle if you decentralize and activate them, Port Harcourt Port alone will give not less than 6,000 direct jobs. Eastern importers will use the Port Harcourt Port and Eastern rail line. We are not doing that and so Apapa Port is gridlocked,” he said.
He said the discovery of oil would have changed the development narrative of Nigeria, but lamented that Nigeria developed wrong incentives associated with the sharing mentality.
“We have the wrong incentives, this sharing mentality does one thing, for the states that are not having any cost but going to Abuja to share, their marginal cost is zero.
“The condition for equilibrium in Economics is marginal cost equals marginal benefits. If marginal cost is equal to zero, then marginal benefits must be zero. So, all we are doing is obeying that law by debasing our assets. That is what has happened to us.
“You might think it is an oil-based redistribution, but it is giving the wrong signals both in market and institutions. There used to be cattle tax, they are gone. Now, they are trying to revive it, but it’s difficult. So, our incentive system is wrong,” he said.
Others, who graced the occasion, were the Minister of FCT, Mohammed Bello, represented by Chief of Staff to the ministry, Bashar Maiborno, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele, represented by Emmanuel Ukeje among others.
