By Daud Olatunji

ABEOKUTA—VICE President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, identified poor implementation and lack of implementation as the bane of reviews of economic plans.

Osinbajo said this at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta in Ogun State, while delivering an address at the closing ceremony of the 17th Joint Planning Board, JPB, and National Council on Development Planning, NCDP, with the theme:  ‘Accelerating the implementation of the economic recovery and growth plan: the role of stakeholders.’

Represented by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen Udoma Udo Udoma, the Vice President said: “As a government, we have chosen to do things differently by bringing in the needed political will at the highest level towards a sustained implementation of the ERGP.”

Osinbajo said: “Mr. President gave this signal when he saw the urgent need of merging the Budget Office of the federation with the erstwhile National Planning Commission to create the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

“That singular action has enabled the various initiatives outlined in the ERGP to feed into our annual budgets. With the zero-based budgeting systems that we have adopted, our budgets have now become more policy-oriented and development focused. Available resources are being judiciously  utilised  and programmes and projects prioritised to ensure the rapid transformation of our country.

“We will provide the right infrastructure, open up the space for private investment, diversify the economy away from crude oil dependence, and more importantly, invest in our people and give them a better life.”

“Inflation rate has witnessed a decline for the 18th consecutive month since December 2016. Quite significant reforms have been introduced to improve the business climate that has pushed up our global ranking from 169 to 145. With confidence returning, we have experienced advice investment inflows into the country in the last one year, and our GDP growth has turned positive.

“In addition, we are proud of the successes recorded in the agricultural sector. The  revitalisation  of our  fertiliser  blending plants alone has saved the country over $200 million annually in foreign exchange and over N60 billion in budgetary provisions for fertiliser  subsidies. This has also made it possible to purchase  fertiliser  at prices up to 30 percent cheaper than previously available.

“Furthermore, I am aware that the National Committee on Export  Pomotuin  is implementing a plan to enhance export promotion and economic diversification in line with the Zero Oil Plan, ZOP, initiative. We have equally budgeted N44.2 billion in the 2018 budget for the establishment of Special Economic Zones in the country’s six  geo-political  zones to drive local manufacturing and exports.

“I believe strongly that to accelerate implementation of the ERGP and deliver on its target of 7 percent GDP growth by 2020 and we surely need massive amounts of private investment. And that underscores the significance of the ERGP focus labs.”

In his remarks, the Minister of Budget and Planning, Udoma, noted that the Federal Government is committed to implementing the various strategies set out in the plan, to address the five execution priorities of  macro-economic  stabilisation, agriculture  and  food security.