The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma has called on the Centre for Management Development (CMD) employees to help government actualise its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP’s) goals.
Speaking in Lagos during a facility tour at the CMD’s Lagos office, the ERGP, according to him, needs everybody’s contribution to succeed. He said his ministry was determined to drive the ERGP objectives, urging CMD’s members of staff to familiarise themselves with the objectives.
According to Udoma, ERGP’s three main objectives are to restore growth, and slowly get the economy out of recession. “We have moved the economy back to production as we are creating millions of jobs through rice farming. We need to develop our capacity for management for us to achieve the ERGP goals and the CMD is key for government to achieve these goals,” he said.
Udoma urged the CMD to help train Nigerians in the art of management. “The Federal Government will support the CMD to realise its objectives,” he said, adding that the country’s revenues are challenged at present, and that agencies should think outside the box and generate surplus revenues to drive the agency.
“We need to work together. The real wealth of the people is in its people. The CMD should help to develop the capacity of Nigerians to achieve the ERGP goals,” he said.
CMD Director-General, Kabir Usman, praised the budget ministry under Udoma for raising the annual budget of the agency from N28 million to N64 million. He urged the minister to facilitate early release of the agency’s budget cash. “The new minister has helped the CMD to get N28 million allocation annually. But we want a timely release of the fund,” he said.
The Federal Government unfolded its ERGP, which outlined how the country will get out of recession and attain stability and growth. The economic blueprint, itemised the potentials in the economy and how they can be harnessed for economic growth, development and good of all.
The ERGP recognised that Nigeria has the potential to become a major player in the global economy by virtue of its human and natural resource endowments. However, this potential, it said, has remained relatively untapped over the years.
Analysts said the content of the ERGP shows that government is already approaching the solution to the nation’s economic challenges with the same will and commitment it has demonstrated in the fight against corruption and economic development.
They believed that the ERGP had brought together all the sectoral plans for agriculture and food security, energy and transport infrastructure, industrialisation and other means that can be used to revive the economy.
Besides, after a shift from agriculture to crude oil and gas in the late 1960s, Nigeria’s growth has continued to be driven by consumption and high oil prices. “Previous economic policies left the country ill-prepared for the recent collapse of crude oil prices and production. The structure of the economy remains highly import dependent, consumption driven and undiversified,” they said.
The ERGP, a Medium Term Plan for 2017 – 2020, builds on the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) and has been developed for the purpose of restoring economic growth while leveraging the ingenuity and resilience of the Nigerian people – the nation’s most priceless assets.
It is also articulated with the understanding that the role of government in the 21st Century must evolve from that of being an omnibus provider of citizens’ needs into a force for eliminating the bottlenecks that impede innovation and market-based solutions.