PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, April 5, launched the Nigeria Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The ERGP seeks to restore the nation’s economy following the current high rate of inflation and recession.

The launch was undertaken shortly before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting which also held inside the Council Chamber, Aso Rock, Abuja.

The launch was attended by all cabinet members as well as top government functionaries including John Odigie-Oyegun, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bukola Saraki Senate president; Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the House of Representatives and Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, who is also chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF.

In his speech, Buhari said his administration inherited numerous challenges at inception. But he said his administration was determined to deliver on the three key areas that he promised during the campaigns; which are to tackle corruption, insecurity and ensure economic growth.

“Security in the North East and other parts of Nigeria today is better than when we came in. Law enforcement agencies are prosecuting many cases of corruption and I assure all Nigerians that we are approaching our economic challenges in the same manner we are fighting insecurity and corruption,” he said.

The president said the ERGP would focus on agriculture with a view to ensuring adequate food security as well as energy, industrialisation and social investment.

According to him, the ERGP is an ambitious plan that seeks to achieve a seven percent economic growth by the year 2020. He said the aim was not just to remove the country out of recession, but to put it on the path of strength and growth, away from being an import dependent nation.

“We must produce what we need,” he said.

Buhari also said the ERGP clearly sets out what his government is committed to doing by creating an environment for businesses to thrive.

He called on state governors to draw inspiration from the plan and articulate their own plans that will lead them to real growth.

Speaking earlier, Udo Udoma, minister of Budget and National Planning, said Buhari, right from his campaigns had shown commitment to changing Nigeria in a fundamental way. He said the ERGP was the president’s fulfilment of his promise to reinvigorate the Nigerian economy.

Udoma said while the ERGP was being launched on Wednesday, the plan had put together in “one place, for easy access, all the sectoral plans that the government has been working on, from inception, including the strategic implementation plan for the 2016 budget.”

He said many of the initiatives in the plan were contained in the 2017 budget proposals which were submitted to the national assembly last December.

“The broad objectives of the ERGP are to restore growth, invest in our people and build a globally competitive economy,” the minister said.

He also said Buhari had already approved the establishment of a unit in the Presidency that would monitor the implementation of the plan.

In their goodwill messages, Saraki and Dogara pledged the cooperation of the National Assembly to the implementation of the plan. The lawmakers, however, called on the president to ensure the implementation of the plan.

Speaking in the same vein, Yari said the launch of the ERGP was a significant milestone in the economic management of the country with a view to provide a basis for inclusive growth.

He said all the 36 governors would take ownership of the plan and ensure its implementation as it concerns other levels of government.

— Apr 5, 2017 @ 17:15 GMT

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