FG requires $245bn to implement ERGP – Minister
The Federal Government says it requires $245.13 billion to implement the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) over its four-year period.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, stated this during his presentation on ERGP Focus Labs at the inauguration of core teams by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.
He said the cost of implementation will be divided in a ratio of 4:1 with the private sector contributing $195.98bn while government investment is expected to provide $49.15bn.
He also said that the plan, with five execution priorities and six priority sectors, is expected to create 15 million jobs with the aim of tackling constraints to growth, leveraging the power and private sector, allowing market to function and promoting national cohesion as well as social inclusion.
While inaugurating the Vice President Osinbajo groups, charged the stakeholders to work as a team focused on getting new investment commitments and assisting investors through the process.
The working group comprising senior public officials from the six pilot ministries and their agencies are expected to provide sector expertise and work with the ERGP Implementation Unit to successfully plan the three initial labs and address inter-agency bottlenecks investors might bring to the labs.
He said the ERGP focus labs is one of those targeted initiatives of the President Buhari administration that drive the three pillars of its medium term plan restoring growth, building a competitive economy and investing in the Nigerian people.
“As mentioned by the Honourable Minister of Budget and National Planning, most of our macro indices are trending upwards but a lot more needs to be done. And this administration will definitely not relent until we bring these headline improvements to visibly impact the majority of our citizenry,” he added.
He further noted that the focus labs are primarily to drive new investments that create jobs for the people across the 36 states of the federation, stressing that all hands must be on deck to get the labs’ project right.
He explained that the central steering committee - comprising nine cabinet ministers in Agriculture, Transport, Solid Minerals, Industry, Trade and Investment, Power, Works and Housing, Petroleum Resources, Finance, Justice and Budget and National Planning is tasked with steering the labs and ensuring active collaboration with the private sector to remove inhibitions that may have impeded some of the priority projects that they want to invest in, but which have remained on the drawing board for long.
The labs are expected to be executed in three phases starting from March, 2018 to May, 2018.