Buhari Inaugurates N348tn Devt Plan, Eyes N298tn From Private Sector
President Muhammadu Buhari
Nigeria requires an investment size of N348.1tn to achieve the targets set out in the National Development Plan 2021-2025, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
He also said a whopping 85.7per cent (N298.3tn) of this amount would come from the private sector while the government would provide 14.3 per cent (N49.7tn).
Buhari revealed this on Wednesday in Abuja at the formal launch and public presentation of the National Development Plan 2021-2025, the successor to the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017- 2020, which lapsed in December 2020.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement titled, ‘President Buhari: Nigeria needs N348.1tn investments to achieve five-year National Development Plan, quoted the President as saying that the overall target of the plan is to achieve a broad-based real GDP growth rate of five per cent on the average during the period.
The administration also plans to generate 21 million full-time jobs, and through inclusive growth, lift 35 million people out of poverty.
He added that this would set the stage for achieving the government’s target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years, under the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy.
To achieve these, Buhari noted that out of the investment size of N348.1tn, the government is expected to provide N49.7tn or 14.3 per cent, while the private sector will provide the balance of N298.3tn or 85.7 per cent.
‘‘This implies that successful implementation of the plan will require a strong partnership between the public and private sectors.
‘‘In this regard, a development plan implementation unit headed by the Vice President with the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning as the vice-chair will be established in the Budget and National Planning arm of the ministry to ensure overall coordination with the Ministries, Departments and Agencies; sub-national governments; Private sector operators and Civil Society Organisations,’’ he said.
He added that the macroeconomic framework recognized that sectors have differing potentials for growth and, as such, identified and leveraged those sectors with the highest potentials for stimulating growth.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who presented the plan to the President during a brief ceremony ahead of the week’s virtual Federal Executive Council meeting, said the plan would focus on investment in massive infrastructure, ensure economic stability, enhance the investment environment, and improve on social indicators and living conditions of Nigerians, among other targets.
Ahmed said the plan would encourage the use of science, technology and innovation in driving the growth being targeted.
She 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 ease 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 geopolitical zones and opening up of opportunities for the rural areas to ensure balanced development and increased competitiveness.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum has lauded the Buhari regime for the initiative that has created the series of economic development plans so far, noting that no administration in Nigeria’s history has been as inclusive.
The Chairman, NGF, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who was represented by the Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu, noted that the new NDP 2021-2025was a product of collaboration and consultation between the federal and state governments.
