9 Takeaways For Nigerians As Buhari Receives Economic Sustainability Plan

In a move aimed at reversing the negative impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the Nigerian economy, the Economic Sustainability Committee (ESC) headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has presented the country’s new Economic Sustainability Plan to President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja.

President Buhari had appointed Osinbajo to chair the committee whose mandate was to propose strategies to cushion the effect of the pandemic on citizens.

The vice president and his team subsequently consulted with members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, 36 state governors, the National Assembly leadership as well as heads of ministries and government agencies, among others, to come up with the plan.

The ESC, in the document titled: “Bouncing Back: The Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan”, made nine key recommendations to President Buhari, which include mass job creation, housing and industrialization programmes.

The recommendations are:

1. A Mass Agricultural Programme, which is expected to bring between 20,000 and 100,000 hectares of new farmland under cultivation in every State of the Federation and create millions of direct and indirect job opportunities.
2. Extensive Public Works and Road Construction Programme focusing on both major and rural roads and using locally available materials like limestone, cement and granite.
3. Mass Housing Programme to deliver up to 300,000 homes annually, engaging young professionals and artisans who form themselves into small and medium scale businesses within the construction industry, using indigenous labour and materials.
4. Installation of Solar Home System, targetting 5 million households, serving about 25 million individual Nigerians who are currently not connected to the National Grid.
5. Support for local production and manufacturing of all that is possible, including tech apps, software, shoes, garments, steel fabrication, ceramics and furniture, with the required capital and essential machinery.
6. The provision of ample support for the informal sector through low interest loans and by easing procedures for registration, licensing, obtaining permits, etc. By these means, urban and informal business people like mechanics, tailors, artisans, and petty traders, will be encouraged to improve and develop their services.
7. Support for MSMEs, especially in assisting to restructure their loans with banks. Among others, this will assist businesses in the pharmaceutical, aviation, hotels and the hospitality industry, private schools, road transportation, technology companies, and the creative industry, amongst others.
8. Facilitation of broadband connectivity across the country and creation of a wide variety of technology and ICT jobs.
9. Expansion of the Social Investment Programme, through an increase in the number of cash transfer beneficiaries, N- Power volunteers and sundry traders enjoying small and micro loans through the MarketMoni and TraderMoni schemes. The preexisting conditional cash transfer will also be extended to cover a larger number of the extremely poor.

The Economic Sustainability Committee however noted that implementation was key to the success of the programmes.

Osinbajo said, “Making sure that we execute the Plan faithfully and working in collaboration. We have therefore recommended that each Minister will be responsible for supervising the implementation of plans situated in their respective Ministries. Ministers will also be responsible for ensuring synergy between all relevant stakeholders across the public and private sectors. The Economic Sustainability Committee, which is inter-Ministerial in nature, should only then remain to oversee plan implementation, ensure inter ministerial co-ordination, and report regularly to the President, while expenditure is monitored through the National M&E framework and the Budget Office of the Federation.”

The Vice President thanked President Buhari for, “the confidence reposed in members of the ESC by giving us this very critical national assignment. We are confident that if the proposals are taken as a whole and implemented conscientiously, Nigeria will avert the worst of the impending economic headwinds, and covert this crisis to a victory for the Nigerian economy.”