Tony Ailemen, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has formally launched the Focus Labs for the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan ( ERGP).
The key goals in the initiative are to achieve sustainable, diversified and inclusive growth, as well becoming self-sufficient in basic commodities to curtail food imports.
It is also expected to help government diversify the nation’s economic base from reliance on crude oil, as well as empowering local businesses to create thousands of jobs and improving the general wellbeing of Nigerians
The Focus Labs are seen as a novel initiative in the relationship between government and the organised private secto and are projected to generate about $25bn for the government with specific focus in key areas such as the oil and gas, manufacturing and processing, agriculture and transport.
The labs in Nigeria are designed as closed-door investment platforms to identify and accelerate high-impact projects with significant impact on GDP and job creation.
The Federal Government is hopeful that the establishment of the Focus Labs will boost economic development and ensure positive growth in the economy
It is expected that the ERGP will help in eradicating corruption in government procurement and processes, prudent management of resources, social inclusion, overcoming power constraints and skills shortages, and further promote private sector inclusion.
Government is already celebrating the successes of the ERGP, attributing to it, improved stability in the fiscal and monetary markets, as well as early exit from recession in less than a year of its establishment.
“We have made remarkable strides in creating a conducive business environment for investors, earning the World Bank’s ranking as one of the Top 10 most improved economies in 2017. This has encouraged both local and foreign investments in the last few months.”
Buhari added that “We remain committed to working hard to attain our target of moving up in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings by 2020.
“We are also investing billions of naira in fixing infrastructure across the country. Significant progress has also been made in the agricultural sector with the expansion of the Anchor Borrower’s program to more beneficiaries to boost our local production.
“We plan to build upon the success of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative to double the 500,000 metric tons of fertiliser delivered to states, agro-dealers and farmers in 2017, by achieving production output of 1 million metric tons in 2018.”
The Central Steering Committee and Joint Working Group of the ERGP Focus Labs were formed comprising nine ministers in Agriculture, Transport, Solid Minerals, Industry Trade and investment, Power Works and Housing, Petroleum Resources, Finance, Justice and Budget and National Planning.
The Central Steering Committee has the responsibility to amongst other things, include steering the labs and ensuring active collaboration with the private sector to remove inhibitions that may have impeded some of the priority investment projects that have been stalled for too long.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, said “We are targeting to mobilise at least $25 billion or its equivalent in naira, in private investments and about 240 projects have so far been screened for the labs. Many have asked whether we are not being too ambitious in targeting $25 billion.
“My answer is that we have no choice. We actually need multiples of $25 billion or its equivalent in naira, of new investments to create enough jobs to address the high unemployment rate in the country.
“So, we will not stop after the first set of labs, we will hold more labs and we shall keep on addressing all constraints to investments, until we achieve the goals we have set for ourselves.”
