Buhari unveils 5-year national development plan

 

President Muhammadu Buhari has launched the National Development Plan (NDP) for 2021 to 2025, which will focus investment on ensuring economic stability, enhancing the investment environment and bettering social indicators and living conditions of Nigerians, among others. 

 

He presented the document to the public at the council chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, before the commencement of the weekly federal executive council (FEC) meeting.

 

Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, in her opening remarks, said that the new development plan will replace the Economic Recovery and Growth Programme (ERGP).

 

“The NDP 2021-2025 is designed as our medium-term development plan to succeed the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP 2017-2020) which ended in December 2020,” Ahmed said.

 

 “The ERGP 2017–2020 assisted the country to exit economic recession in 2017, and sustained modest growth until the recent global economic challenges occasioned by COVID-19 Pandemic.”

 

The minister said that current challenges result from several years of inappropriate policies, fiscal leakages and global economic phenomena.

 

“This Administration is taking necessary actions that will fundamentally change the structure of the economy and how government businesses are conducted for efficiency and effectiveness,” she added.

 

Ahmed said the plan would help Nigeria achieve robust development in the science and technology sectors.

 

“The President graciously granted approval to my ministry in 2019 to develop a new national development plan to succeed both ERGP 2017-2020,” the minister added.

 

“It is very important to note that the Plan is a pointer to the type of Nigeria we all desire and encourages the use of science, technology and innovation to drive growth.”

 

Ahmed further noted that the NDP 2021-2025 will help Nigeria achieve regional continental agendas.

 

 “I want to place on record that this plan is sufficiently comprehensive with the capacity to accelerate the attainment of various regional and global agendas, including the AU Agenda 2063, ECOWAS integration agenda 2050 and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030,” Ahmed said.

 

“In order to have the future we all desire, the plan is developed to play a sizable role in the product complexity space internationally and adopts measures to easing constraints that have hindered the economy from attaining its potentials, particularly, on the product mapping space.

 

“The plan provides for the implementation of major infrastructure and other development projects across the six geo-political zones and the opening up of opportunities for the rural areas to ensure balanced development and increased competitiveness.”

 

Clement Agba, the minister of state, budget and national planning, speaking after the weekly FEC meeting, said that the NDP for 2021 to 2025, approved by FEC on November 10, intends to be an all-inclusive plan for all Nigerians especially women, young people, people with special needs and vulnerable people.

 

 “From us in the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, ours wasn’t a memo to council,” Agba said.

 

“What happened today was the unveiling of the National Development Plan by His Excellency, Mr President.

 

“You will recall that the National Development Plan 2021 to 2025, which is the successor plan to the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan was approved by the Federal Executive Council on November 10.

 

“The difference with this plan is that it provides a mechanism to engage, empower, and employ our teeming energetic youth.

 “The plan puts opportunities for inclusiveness for young people, women, people with special needs, and the vulnerable ones, mainstreaming women’s gender into all aspects of our social, economic and political activities.

 

“This plan also has a financing plan to increase revenue to 15% of GDP. Currently, revenue to GDP is 7%.

 

“This plan also separates sports from youth and takes sports as business.

 

‘“For the first time in our planning history, we have three volumes of the plan.

 

“In the past, we have always had one volume, which is the plan itself. But this time, we have three volumes.

 

“Volume one is the main plan, and that’s what will be accessible to the public.

 

“Volume two is the prioritised and sequential list of programmes and projects that will be fed into the annual budgets.

 

“While volume three are the legislative imperatives. What volume three really seeks to cover are those laws or policies that impede the private sector from being the main driver of the economy.

 

“And so, laws have been identified that need to be reviewed or changed. Policies have also been identified that need to be worked upon. So, Volume Two and Volume Three are not for the public.

 

“They are essentially for government to see what they need to do. Another difference between this plan and the previous plan is the issue of Integrated Rural Development. This plan takes rural development away from agric.

 

“It looks at how to bring in different levels of infrastructure to the rural areas with a view to discouraging rural-urban migration and ensuring that broadband technology gets to the rural areas, and that power supply, even if it’s an upgrade, it’s within the rural areas.

 

“And we begin to open up our rural areas. Another differentiating factor between this plan and the previous plan is that this plan has a strong implementation framework. And there is also a framework for monitoring and evaluation because it takes into cognizance, vertical, lateral and horizontal coordination.”