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By Kelechi Anyanwu & Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
PRESIDENT Goodluck Ebele Jonathan holds aloft the transformational pledge of promising less but delivering more. In his first 100 days in office, President Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda with which he hopes to turn the country around by the end of his tenure in 2015, has been prioritised to give the growth of the economy pride of place. The transformation agenda is anchored on driving the country through the perspectives of continuity, consistency and commitment (3Cs). It was the disregard for the 3Cs that had resulted in rising unemployment, inequality and poverty. Poised as ever to correct the errors of the past, the regime has come forth with a holistic agenda aimed at the transformation of the Nigerian state with a strategy that gives cognizance to these 3Cs in the life of the administration. The transformation plan draws its inspiration from President Jonathan’s electoral promises, the Vision 20:2020 and the first National Implementation Plan (NIP). The agenda is based on a set of priority policies and programmes which, when implemented, would transform the Nigerian economy to greater heights. Job Creation Job creation is a cardinal objective of the Jonathan Presidency. In the drive to lop off the unemployment tentacle, the government will pursue policy measures to reinvigorate several sectors of the economy and enhance their employment-generating potential. This will entail implementing a youth employment safety net support programme that includes conditional cash transfer and vocational training; development of industrial clusters; reviewing of university curricular to align learning with industry job requirements; promotion of apprenticeship/work experience programmes and joint ventures; enforcement of mandatory sub-contracting and partnering with locals by foreign construction companies, and implementation of mandatory skills transfer to Nigerians by foreign construction companies. The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in a detailed statement, aptly captured the challenge and the solution. “The biggest challenge we have is creating jobs for our youth. 25 percent of the working-age population is outside of the labour force. Youth unemployment is rising. The priority is, how do we take care of that problem? We need several things to happen. We need to maintain macroeconomic stability. We could run a tighter fiscal policy. We have a serious power problem, which is a binding constraint on economic growth. One of the exciting things is the potential to spur that. “Agriculture has been growing at seven to eight per cent. And we have the ability to assure our own food security as well as develop a value-chain for exports. But we need to do agriculture differently to create jobs and make it attractive to youth. We need to modernize agriculture. We need to take a value-chain approach going from farm to market and giving them access to improved technology in terms of seeds, fertilizers and water management. We have cases of things going to waste – tomatoes, potatoes, all sorts of produce. If you modernize agriculture, it is much more attractive for youth to stay than the old subsistence hoe and machete approach. That is one place where we can create more jobs. Two, we have 34 unexploited minerals quite apart from oil and gas – many of them in commercially exploitable quantities. It is an amazingly rich country. We need the infrastructure to make exploitation possible. And if you do that from a value-chain approach – not just mining the thing but transforming it – that can create jobs. “And the entertainment industry ‘Nollywood’. 40 movies a week. $250 million per annum. They employ our young people, so it is perfect. The appeal is worldwide. Where you have people of African descent they love this stuff. I was in Belize and people stopped me on the street and they said, ‘Are you Nigerian? We love your movies.’ The thing is not to interfere – it has grown on its own. To help it improve, two things are needed. Improvement in quality: That takes building capacity, access to finance. And second is intellectual property. We need to regulate because part of the problem is that they are not realizing value because things are copied. You hear this from the U.S. in regard to China, and the argument is that China will eventually regulate when they have things to protect… This discussion is very alive in Nigeria. The industry is asking for help; protecting them from piracy – that we need to build the capacity of our intellectual property committees.” At the Job Creation Summit which President Jonathan hosted, he reiterated his determination to initiate various intervention programmes in the key productive sectors of the economy in all states of the federation, based on their comparative advantage, to provide incentives for the flow of capital to the real sectors, to increase productivity and achieve widespread employment generation, especially for urban and rural youth nationwide. This is aimed at creating about 1.5 million income-generating employment in the labour intensive sectors of the economy, namely agriculture, manufacturing, building and construction.
Other proposals include the
consolidation of the Public Works Programme (PWP) to create 1.5 million
jobs this year, while a Growth and Employment Pact (GEP) would enable
public-private partnerships to enhance growth in construction, ICT, hide
and skin, tourism and entertainment sectors.
In line with the Federal Government’s agenda of realizing its job creation objectives, working groups have been set up, including the PWP, Graduate Employment and Business Process, Outsourcing Working Group, Vocational Education and Job Centres,Small and Growing Business and Entrepreneurship Working Group. Macroeconomic Framework and Economic Direction The Jonathan Government projects a baseline GDP growth rate of 11.7% per annum for the period 2011-2015. The hope is that this will translate to real and nominal GDP of about N428.6billion and N73.2trillion respectively at the end of the period. The projected GDP growth of the period will be driven largely by the oil and gas, solid minerals, agriculture, ICT equipment and software, telecommunication, wholesale and retail trade, tourism and entertainment, manufacturing and building and construction sectors. A total investment of N40.75trillion in nominal terms is also projected for the period. The public sector will account for N24.45trillion or 60 per cent, while the remaining N16.30trillion or 40 per cent is expected to be invested by the private sector. This way, public sector investment plan is made up of N11.59 trillion for states and local governments. The key policies to be pursued include: * Ensuring greater harmony between fiscal and monetary policies. In this regard, the National Economic Management Team will be strengthened to facilitate effective coordination of fiscal and monetary policies. * Pursuit of sound macroeconomic policies, including fiscal prudence supported by appropriate monetary policy to contain inflation at single digit. * The budget process shall be reviewed to provide greater clarity of roles between the executive and legislature and to ensure that the appropriation bill is enacted into law within the first month of any year. The direction of policy shall draw inspiration from the US system and concentrate on setting allocation priorities rather than micro-budgeting or contesting figures with the executive. * The existing revenue allocation formula shall be reviewed to achieve a more balanced fiscal federalism. This is expected to pave the way for more effective implementation of programmes at the sub-national level. * Institutionalising the culture of development planning at all levels of government and ensuring that the annual capital budget allocation takes a cue from medium and long-term development plans. Towards this end, government wants the National Assembly to expedite the passage of the Planning and Project Continuity Bill to strengthen the Plan-Budget link and reduce the high incidence of abandoned projects. Infrastructure Development Government will seek to address the infrastructure deficit in the country in key development areas such as power, transportation, housing, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Niger Delta. The Transformation Agenda stresses the critical importance of these areas in the national development. Between 2011 and 2015, key priority policies will be pursued to develop infrastructure and consequently engender sustained growth and development in the country. After decades of near collapse of core social amenities, the dire demand for functional infrastructure is obvious. Aware of the expectations, the presidency is already pressing the right buttons for the revitalization of the country’s infrastructure. As part of the moves to revive the country’s ailing and under-developed infrastructure, an Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission has been set up to lead the National Economic Management Team’s Infrastructure Technical Working Group to produce a roadmap for investment in the provision of critical infrastructure. The Working Group comprises stakeholders in the public and private sectors. The document contains the sources of funding for the identified projects, beyond the provisions in this year’s budget. Though government is still fine-tuning the implementation plan of the Infrastructure Roadmap, it is already frontloading a number of key priority projects identified as fundamental for the transformation agenda. A notable project which has reached advanced stages of completion is the railway revitalization programme. Mr. David N. Ndakotsu, Assistant Director, Public Relations Department of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), expresses optimism that the ongoing rehabilitation and revitalization programme would provide the needed locus for the evolution of modern rail transport system in the country. “I must admit that the Federal Government has finally taken the bull by the horns to improve the fortunes of the railways in the country. We are happy that the railway is one of the needs getting the priority attention of the present administration. There has been commensurate investment in the sector, such that was never seen before and if that momentum is sustained, very soon the entire system would come alive once more,” he says. With the railway revitalization programme, which is expected to nurse the nation’s two major routes, the Lagos-Kano and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri lines, back to life already hitting the last stretch, the government has declared its commitment to opening the sector up for private sector participation in the modernization phase that will follow the current rehabilitation phase. Government is carrying out the ongoing rehabilitation to make it viable for private investors and once completed, the modernization will take off which will peovide a standard gauge system for the entire country, with linkages to all the seaports and major airports in the country. The government has already commenced massive rehabilitation of vital roads across the country to ease the excruciating experiences commuters undergo on daily basis. Minister of Works Mr Mike Onolememen recently hinted that the Federal Government has kick-started the process of concessioning the Sagamu-Benin Expressway, one of the major trunk roads that has suffered frequent breakdown over the last decade, to capable private investors. According to the minister, government opted for concessioning after discovering that the challenges faced on the road would be better tackled through a public-private partnership. “We believe that there is a huge market in this country even as it relates to infrastructural development because as a ministry we have done a lot of feasibility studies and we can say with very high level of certainty that most of our roads are economically viable for a discerning investor, that it is the right place to put your money,” Onolememen disclosed while playing host to the vice president of China-Africa Development Fund, Mr. Hu Zhirong in Abuja. He adds that the Federal Government is willing to concession its roads to any investor that shows interest in financing projects in the sector, but the process must go through the Public Procurement Act for effective compliance and monitoring. Public Expenditure Management The clear and present danger the government is concerned about remains the sub-optimality of the expenditure profile of the Federal Government of Nigeria since 1999 which has seen recurrent spending consistently crowding out capital expenditure, thus exacerbating the already abysmal state of infrastructure. Recurrent expenditure has fluctuated between 47.5% in 1999 and 80.29 per cent in 2003, while capital expenditure accounted for only 19.71 per cent of total government expenditure. Government notes that it has since increased continually to a high of 38.37 per cent of total expenditure in 2009. It has grown much worse in 2011 with government borrowing to finance recurrent expenditure. To remedy the situation under the transformation agenda, government will entrench a culture of accountability by beginning to sanction and prosecute officers that breach established financial management rules and regulations. The monetization policy will also be strictly enforced. Governance The Transformation Agenda’s policies on governance are motivated by Nigeria’s need to decisively tackle most development challenges such as poverty, unemployment, security and the deplorable state of infrastructure. The new drive will include political governance, economic governance, corporate governance and effectiveness of institutions. During the life of the administration, the policies and the programmes directed at addressing governance challenges will focus on the public service; security, law and order; the legislature; anti-corruption measures and institutions; the judiciary; economic coordination, and support for private investment. The critical policy thrust of governance will be to maximise the benefits the citizenry derive from governance through more effective and efficient use of public resources, proper financial management and fiscal prudence. This entails adequate emphasis on the attainment of law and order, guarantee of safety of lives and property, and the provision of an environment in which people find happiness and fulfilment. Easily the most significant challenge confronting the Nigerian state since independence is bad governance. According to Africa’s literary icon, Chinua Achebe in The Trouble with Nigeria, “it is simply and squarely a failure of leadership”. Not a few had attributed the country’s sloppy socio-economic and political progress thus far to poor governance and leadership inertia. In his bid to break away from the vestiges of the past, President Jonathan has publicly vowed to provide good governance as a form of atonement: “We, and the government I would lead, owe Nigerians good governance based on the fear of God. That is the only thing we can do to atone for the great loss this country witnessed. That everything is working is a clear indication that transformation has started.” Jonathan’s key priority policies, programmes and projects designed to re-launch Nigeria into an enduring path of socio-economic and political renaissance is encapsulated in a document entitled, “Transformation Agenda 2011-2015.” The chronicle which provides the nexus for holistic transformation of the country’s fledging economy also has the Nigerian people’s welfare needs as its thrust. “The agenda is based on a set of priority policies and programmes which when implemented will transform the Nigerian economy to meet the future needs of all Nigerian people,” the document notes. The Transformation Agenda document lists justice and judiciary, legislature and foreign policy and economic diplomacy as sectors requiring priority attention while the review of the federal allocation is among the macro-economic policy choices also needing solution. The Director of the Institute of Security Studies, Mr. Lekan Odugbemi, views the agenda as a right step in the right direction, saying: “It is usually purposeful, deep, comprehensive and integrated. President Jonathan’s idea of transformation is to propel Nigeria from its present status of a developing to a developed country. This is akin to what President Lee Kuan Yew did for Singapore.” Addressing the inaugural session of the National Economic Council (NEC), Jonathan urged the governors-dominated council not to politicize the economic programmes, insisting that the economy must be accorded national priority by all tiers of government. According to the President, “I will, therefore, plead with the governors, not to play politics with anything that has to do with the economy of the country. Of course we have a multi-party system and of course we cannot all come from the same party. All political parties have the same aspirations, good governance, to improve the welfare of the citizens. So we don’t need to play politics with the economic issues. The economy of the country is the top most priority of this administration because we know without fixing our economy, we can’t go anywhere as a nation. So that is the first interest of government and I would want to urge all the different tiers of government, the states and local governments to place economic issues on the front burner because without a well-managed economy, as a nation we will not be planning for the future generation.” As a way of demonstrating that he means every word of it, an Expenditure Review Committee is already reforming the budgeting system to avoid crowding out the critical capital investments required to achieve development goals amid rising recurrent expenditure. All hands are on deck to stem revenue leakages through various interventions. Pre-shipment inspection for crude oil and gas is to be strengthened. All revenue-generating agencies including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are now for thorough auditing. The implementation of key reforms of the operations of the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigerian Customs Service is up for fast-tracking. A new pay-roll system (IPS) introduced by the government saved N12 billion after the accounts of 16 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were scrutinized. For the first time, the MDAs now have a programme manager with the responsibility to monitor, from the point of procurement, to where they are doing designs or implementation. Training of government personnel abroad is now thoroughly scrutinized and tied to productivity. The government is cutting down domestic debt, which is usually tied to recurrent expenditure. The simmering face-off between the executive and legislature over the inflating of the 2011 budget by the parliament is another vital index of the level of commitment of the executive to impose fiscal discipline. The original budget of N4.226 trillion meant to mark the beginning of fiscal consolidation was jerked up to N4.972 trillion by the Parliament, up by 17.9 percent. The original figure is billed to narrow the deficit to 3.26 percent of GDP from 6.06 percent in 2010, but the parliament-inflated figure will take the deficit to 4.23 percent. Alongside, public service reforms are touching the rank and file in all realms of government. Going by the figures from the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, the country will need N21 billion to implement a meaningful turn-around of the public service. The amount is meant for programming, budgeting, costing and financing of the rebuilding phase of a three-year reform programme. Experts foresee a better change in the fiscal system as soon as the restructuring in place begins to yield the desired dividends. Among several others, the core objectives of President Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda are underlined by the desire of the administration to promote social and economic changes through the optimization of economic growth; develop a knowledge-based economy and enhance security of lives and property; accelerate growth; provide employment and reduce youth restiveness. Justice and Judiciary The policy thrust of the justice and judiciary sector is aimed at achieving greater independence for the judiciary in terms of funding, improving capacity and efficiency in judicial service delivery, eliminating all forms of corruption in the administration of justice in Nigeria, enhancing the capacity of the justice ministry to superintend prosecution, and improving professionalism in legal practice for better service delivery. The President has set up a 12-man Justice Sector Reform Implementation Committee to ensure the implementation of various reforms that have been articulated and widen access to justice. Mr. President assented to several bills to increase access to justice including the Human Rights Amendment Act, 2011; Legal Aid Amendment Act, 2011; The Evidence Act (which has simplified the process of collating evidence in our legal system). He has ensured compliance with court judgments, especially with regard to payment of judgment debts. Foreign Policy and Economic Diplomacy Nigeria’s foreign missions are to be properly focused and well-funded to meet the foreign policy goals of the country. Government may rationalise missions and appoint honorary consuls to deal with consular issues in areas where Nigeria’s interest does not loom large as practised by other countries. President Jonathan considers Nigeria’s external affairs at the regional and global level as the final piece in his Transformation Agenda jigsaw puzzle. Shortly after his electoral victory last April, he authorized the immediate review of the country’s foreign policy, to reflect current realities. Explaining the rationale for his foreign policy reform during a special parley with the Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations, President Jonathan noted that following a successful election that stretched the country’s democratization process, his government is poised to chart a new course for the nation and would pay special attention to the strengthening of economic relations with the international community. He said: “After 50 years of independence, it is time to review the country’s foreign policy, in line with modern realities and international developments. In the next four years, we will pay special attention to the improvement and strengthening of economic ties with our partners in the international community, as a foundation for stability and growth of our country.” The bid to rework the driving force of Nigeria’s Foreign Policy has so far orchestrated a critical and comprehensive review by top Nigerian diplomats and former Foreign Affairs Ministers. It also covers the whole gamut of Nigeria’s foreign relations, including staffing, morale, standards and budget. Under the auspices of the Presidential Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs headed by former Commonwealth Secretary-General Emeka Anyaoku, the country’s best brains in international-cum-economic affairs, including former and serving ministers and envoys, sat between August 1 and 4, 2011 to draft the new comprehensive foreign policy directive. Foreign Affairs Minister Olugbenga Ashiru believes Nigeria’s latest Foreign Policy would now be investment-driven and different from the previous focus on Africa. He said: “Our foreign policy must now reflect the aspirations of Nigerians, our collective dreams, the yearnings of our children, the fulfillment of the potential of our youths as well as the realization of the manifest destiny of this great country.” According to Ashiru, the era when the nation’s foreign policy oscillated between the whims of the country’s foreign minister and the President is over. What is being outlined now, he asserts, is a set of sustainable ideas which tally with the national interest but substantially takes care of today’s needs that had been identified as the economic well-being of citizens, enhanced security and massive foreign investment inflow. Also on the reform table are the issues of Nigeria’s political interests, placed alongside its leadership role in the sub-region and on the continent. The idea now is to give it life by making all important segments of society make inputs while the problematic question of implementation will be resolved once and for all. There is also the issue of reciprocity. We are now to get the best ideas on how to drive this process in a sustainable way. It is the reason we are now poised to saying countries benefiting from Nigeria’s assistance should equally give their support of votes when we make such request at international organizations, sub-regional, regional and global for a,” he adds. Education Under Priority Policies for the Development of Education, the Jonathan administration will promote primary enrolment of all children of school-going age irrespective of the income profile; engage in the provision of infrastructure such as classrooms across all levels to ease over-crowding; increase access and reduce pupil-teacher ratio; and enhance the efficiency, resourcefulness and competence of teachers and other educational personnel through training, capacity building and motivation. Stakeholders all over the nation have lauded President Jonathan, a former university don, for the rapid improvement in Nigeria’s educational sector. Mr. President understands that Nigeria cannot make much progress towards the attainment of its Vision 20:2020 and MDGs unless the educational system is strengthened. The president is therefore repositioning the educational sector to make the Vision 20:2020 and MDGs a reality. “Education remains the key agent of the desired transformation. It follows logically; therefore, the national transformation must start with education,” President Jonathan said recently. Unlike in the past, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) surprised education-watchers when it provided all the writing materials, like pencils, erasers and calculators among others to over 1.3million candidates that sat for the examination. This was done to prevent the candidates from entering the examination hall with any material, to curtail exam malpractice. The Junior Secondary School (JSS) and 104 Unity Schools in the country have also witnessed restoration. The joy that greeted this decision was felt across various sections of the country. Former Minister of State for Education Dr Jerry Agada, who was excited at this decision, said: “Now that the government has in its wisdom realized that the reintroduction of junior classes is good for the development of education and for the Nigerian child, succour has finally come the way of parents agitating that their wards secure admissions into the unity schools.” Also recently, the Federal Government constituted a committee to facilitate the conversion of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) in Lagos, Kaduna Polytechnic in Kaduna, Federal Colleges of Education in Kano and Zaria, Alvan Ikoku College of Education in Owerri, and Adeyemi College of Education in Ondo to degree-awarding institutions. This led to the creation of nine additional federal universities in nine states spread across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. By implication, Nasarawa and Kogi (North-Central), Bayelsa (South-South), Taraba and Katsina (North-West), Ebonyi (South-East), Jigawa and Gombe (North-East) and Ekiti (South-West) became host states for the nine new universities. The universities were given N1.53 billion each by the Federal Government for a start. Basic education has not been left out of the activities in this administration. About 252 secondary schools got science kits from the Federal Government for improved science education. The kits were designed and produced by NASENI, a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology with N771million funding from the Federal Government. The government has recently introduced a special kind of educational system to accommodate the Almajiris (a word borrowed from Arabic for someone who leaves his home in search of knowledge in Islamic religion) into conventional education as a way of reducing illiteracy in the country, especially in the North. Health Sector The health sector has witnessed considerable improvement in immunization coverage and drop in wild polio virus cases; health insurance coverage for the formal sector; provision of midwives to primary health centres through the midwives services scheme; access to free health for pregnant women and children under five years in some states through either state-supported programmes or the MDG programme provided through the NHIS; drop in HIV prevalence; and of course development of a comprehensive health sector development plan accepted by all key stakeholders for the first time in the nation’s history via the National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP). For the health sector, the underpinning policy for the inputs towards achieving the human capital development goal of the Vision 20: 2020 strategy is the NSHDP. The NSHDP is the vehicle for actions at all levels of the health care delivery system which seeks to foster the achievement of the MDGs and other local and international targets and declaration commitments. Determined to improve the health sector for the well-being of Nigerians, the Federal Government has unveiled a comprehensive national strategic health package of N4 trillion. The amount is the aggregate anticipatory investment in the sector by the three tiers of government, the private sector and donor agencies, targeted towards boosting efficient health delivery in the country beginning from 2010 to 2015. The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said the strategic plan presented to the Federal Executive Council by the Ministry of Health was the first of such plans expected from MDAs by the government in line with President Jonathan’s transformation agenda and the Vision 20:2020. Maku noted that about N666 billion under the strategic plan would be invested into the sector annually within the period. While elaborating on the National Health Plan, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu added: “This plan is a broad national one which outlines clearly aggregate investment for the sector to meet our objectives in the Millennium Development Goals.” Labour and Productivity The labour agenda is to focus on the implementation of the National Action Plan on Employment Creation (NAPEC) targeted at creating five million new jobs annually within the next three years; establishment of more skills acquisition centres; implementation of local content policy in all the sectors, especially in the oil and gas industry to boost job creation in the country. The transformation agenda also provides for Key Policies for the Real Sector under the plan period. Its policies for developing the seven growth drivers are agriculture and food security, manufacturing, and oil and gas. Under agriculture and food security, apart from securing food and the food needs of the country, government will enhance the generation of national and social wealth through greater export and import substitution; enhance capacity for value addition leading to industrialisation and employment opportunities; ensure efficient exploitation and utilisation of available agricultural resources; and enhance the development and dissemination of appropriate and efficient technologies for rapid adoption. Under manufacturing, the agenda seeks to promote private sector investments through the creation of an enabling environment that allows for substantial improvement in efficiency, productivity and profitability; significantly increase local manufacturing, local content and linkages with other sectors of the economy; ensure global competiveness for manufactured goods; make Nigerian manufactured goods major foreign exchange earners; and achieve rapid and sustained economic growth through broadening of the nation’s productive base. In oil and gas, the focus will be on the promotion of private sector investment in both the upstream and downstream activities of oil and gas; deregulation of the industry and promotion of environmentally friendly oil and gas exploration and exploitation methods; strengthening capacity building programmes especially in core technical areas; provision of funding mechanisms for pre-bidding geosciences and surveys of deepwater offshore; stop gas flare to reduce pollution; and increase supply for domestic use, power generation, and local content development. The Federal Government has been working with sundry governments at all levels to ensure that the implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage is done in a peaceful manner. According to the Minister of Labour and Productivity Chief Emeka Wogu, “the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is desirous that our policies as government are pro-workers. This administration will always strive to do its best to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of Nigerians.” He has thus signed into law the Employee Compensation Act with provisions for an open and fair system of guaranteed and adequate compensation for workers. The Act makes it mandatory for all programmes of government coming before the Federal Executive Council to indicate the local content job creation aspect. The government has undertaken a study of the unemployment crisis with the realization that unemployment in Nigeria has resulted in more and more people who do not have purchasing power. Less consumption has led to lower production, and economic growth has been hampered. Unemployment also has social consequences as it increases the rate of crime. The secondary-school leavers consist of the principal fraction of the unemployed, accounting for nearly 35% to 50%. The rate of unemployment within the age group of 20 to 24 years is 40 % and between 15 to 19 years, it is 31 %. Almost two-thirds of the unemployed rural population is secondary-school graduates. President Jonathan’s manifesto called “Agenda for Transformation”, launched as part of his political campaign, hinges on a commitment to build an inclusive society where job creation constitutes a major pillar for economic growth; provision of cheap and long-term capital for businesses; removal of barriers to increased productivity; as well as improvement on the environment for doing business. He is convinced that the expansion and development of the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry would provide about one million jobs for Nigerians, while the continued expansion of the production capacity in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry would earn more revenue to the country through increased crude oil exports. To ensure that the improvement in the domestic economy impacts on poverty, Mr. Jonathan has pledged to provide adequate access to economic resources to help small businesses grow. Through the instrumentality of the Presidential Committee inaugurated last year to devise ways of enhancing government’s programmes on job creation and poverty reduction, a N5 billion Business and Development Fund was established by the Bank of Industry (BoI) in collaboration with the Dangote Foundation (DF), to provide soft loans to entrepreneurs engaged in micro, small, and medium scale businesses in the country. The fund, which would grant entrepreneurs access at overall single-digit interest rate of 5%, will be utilized for term loans, working capital loans, leasing of industrial/business equipment, and trading and allied businesses. The President informs: “The provision of cheap funding to SMEs will come as a great relief to entrepreneurs who need to reduce their financial costs as they try to deal with high production costs for generating power and providing other operational infrastructure.” He pointed out that his administration will continue to support infrastructure for the development of Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs) by boosting the $500 million intervention fund already in place to enable the BoI and the Nigerian Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank continue to lend at single-digit interest rates, to facilitate increased access of small businesses to finance, as well as develop Nigeria’s enterprise culture. Enterprise Development Centres, Industrial Clusters, and Job Centres are to be established to collaborate with the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and 23 Enterprise Development Centres (EDCs) across the country, to provide business skills training aimed at improving the managerial capability of entrepreneurs. Power Government envisages that the total proposed investment in the power sector during the period is about N1, 896 trillion. This will cover investments in four areas: power generation, transmission, distribution and alternative energy. This expenditure aims at increasing generation and transmission capacity in order to provide adequate and sustainable power; intensifying rural electrification efforts in a more efficient manner; and achieving optimal energy mix using the most appropriate technology. The strategies to be adopted in achieving these include creating a deregulated and competitive electric power sector to attract foreign and local investments; ensuring a viable commercial framework for the electric power sector including a tariff regime that promotes transparency, guarantees security of investments and a reasonable rate of return on investments; ensuring the transmission capacity and providing redundancies in the transmission system so as to assure a fully integrated network that minimises transmission losses while strengthening grid security. President Jonathan deposes that stable electricity supply is a major plank of his administration’s transformation agenda for the country. As part of the process of reviving the sector, the presidency has kick-started the process of overhauling the critical segments of the sector. President Jonathan inaugurated a nine-man board of the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc on August 23, 2011 with the emphatic declaration that his government was poised to provide stable power supply before the expiration of his term, despite the initial hiccups that trailed the sector reform. “Let me restate that the power sector reform has come to stay; this government shall continue to do all that is necessary to ensure that the processes needed to transform the sector are not abridged in any manner or form. We are quite determined to conclude all processes that would lead to generation, transmission and distribution of improved steady, stable and regular power supply to our people,” he said. The NBET board which has Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as its chairman and Saka Isan as vice-chairman, has Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, the Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Ms Bola Onogoruwa and other notable figures as members. The board is expected to add value and verve to the power sector transformation efforts, and Jonathan expects nothing less than an excellent job from the team. According to President Jonathan, “the Bulk Trader is a critical component of the implementation of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005. It is to act as a catalyst for new investment into the power generation market. The Bulk Trader is equally expected to stabilize the market for those already in the business especially at this time when we have embarked on the privatization of the successor distribution company of the PHCN.” Reiterating his commitment to the attainment of uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria while hosting board members of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company in Abuja, Jonathan said: “We all know the importance of power. We look forward to a time when Nigerians can enjoy uninterrupted power supply from the beginning to the end of a year, and we are working hard to ensure that, that objective is attained within the life-span of this administration.” Professor Barth Nnaji, who as Power Minister is saddled with the responsibility of driving the process, has hinted that there would be a concerted effort to boost the present megawatts generated by 1000mw this year and another 1000mw next year. He also expressed confidence that the country is well on course in the power road-map and could still hit a 15,000- megawatt target by 2014, at which time electricity supply would be stable and guaranteed. According to him, the government is planning to have four sources of power. These, he said, are the existing power plants, which had a generating capacity of over 5,000 megawatts but which are currently generating about 2,400 megawatts; the existing Independent Power Plants (IPPs) owned by Shell and Agip; the bulk traders who are expected to buy about 6,000 megawatts of power from private companies; as well as the hydro and coal power plants in Mambilla and Zungeru. “If you calculate the amount of power that will come from all the four sources within the next two years, you would have crossed the 10,000 megawatts because they are already being constructed, and will soon be completed, and by 2014, we should be reaching about 15,000 megawatts,” Prof Nnaji disclosed. The milestones achieved since the inauguration of the roadmap include the establishment of the Nigeria Bulk Trade Company, unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), reconstitution of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), and the complementary reforms being pursued by the government in the petroleum sector with the development of the Gas Master Plan. The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and its advisers are up to get the best investors for the power projects. As at the last count, 331 organizations have submitted Expression of Interest (EoIs) forms to invest in the power sector. The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission is also reviewing the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) to bring economic pricing to electricity. The Ministry of Finance and the Presidential Task Force on Power are collaborating with the World Bank towards providing partial risk guarantees through credit enhancement to the Bulk Trader and foster the confidence of the IPPs. Also, through the federal might, loan facilities to investors are to be refinanced at single digit interest rates through the establishment of a N500 billion intervention fund for the power, manufacturing and aviation sectors. Apart from the intervention fund for the power, manufacturing and aviation sectors, an additional US$500 million facility is proposed to support small and growing businesses. Another set of lifelines in the pipeline is the special real sector fund to be coordinated by the Bank of Industry and other agencies to revitalize five sectors — manufacturing, textile, aviation, power and entertainment. Indeed, for Nigeria, it is a fresh start. As Dr Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity put it, “It is early days yet, but with such a team armed with a transformational agenda, Nigeria is set to fulfill the potential in the Morgan Stanley report from last July to the effect that Nigeria is set to overtake South Africa’s economy as the largest economy in Africa.” |
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