Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed
Ife Ogunfuwa
The Minister of State for Budget and
National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, has said that the national
economic recovery plan for the next three years will be ready next.
She explained at an economics
communications workshop in Abuja on Thursday that the plan would serve
as a guide for the preparation of annual budgets and would be a
continuation of the initiatives contained in the Strategic
Implementation Plan for the 2016 budget.
According to her, the plan will clearly
state the economic policies of the government that will guide the
investment decisions by domestic and foreign investors.
Ahmed said, “The plan is expected to
build on the policies, initiatives, programmes and projects contained in
the Strategic Implementation Plan for the 2016 budget. The economic
recovery plan is expected to guide the economic management and budgeting
process over the short to medium-term.
“Government will continue to put in
place policies to expand the revenue base, plug leakages in the system,
ensure greater transparency and accountability in the use of public
funds, pursue job creation and support businesses and investments,
especially local investments to grow.
“Approach adopted for the preparation of
the plan is highly participatory and all-inclusive, with the private
sector being actively involved in the process.”
In his keynote address, the Chief
Executive Officer, Economic Associates, Dr. Ayo Teriba, proposed a
holistic approach to economic reform to encourage inflow of foreign
direct investment rather than demand restriction or price adjustment.
He identified the Diaspora funds as
immediate and steady source of foreign currencies and extensive
infrastructural development as sources of the FDI in the long term.
Teriba explained that the impressive
foreign investment and growth experienced in the telecommunications
sector since 2001 could be allowed in other critical sectors.
He called for the liberalisation of the
power sector, rail transport, gas pipelines, power transmission and
housing, among others.
The economist suggested an integrated
infrastructural development in which pipelines could be constructed
underneath the rail tracks and power transmission network above the rail
tracks.
The policy directive needed, according
to him, is to break government’s monopoly across all infrastructure and
allow foreign investors to play more role.
He said, “The experience of the telecoms
companies that arrived in Nigeria in 2001 when the government
liberalised the sector that had been a government monopoly since
independence is a testament to the huge growth and investment
opportunities that Nigeria presents.
“Nigeria had only 300,000 telephone lines in 2001, but these companies have raised that number to more than 160 million today.”
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