The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo says the organized private sector will play a critical role in the Federal Government’s economic growth and recovery plan as the Buhari presidency intensifies efforts at repositioning the economy.
Prof. Osinbajo stated this at the second edition of the Presidential Business Forum, a quarterly interaction between the Federal Government’s economic team and the Organized Private Sector (OPS), at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja, on Monday.
According to the Vice President, “the Organised Private Sector (OPS) has an important and critical role to play in this administration’s economic recovery and growth plan.
“As it has already been said, government alone cannot do it, we cannot do everything, the private sector has a key role to play and that is why we are very keen on building this partnership.’’
Prof. Osinbajo also reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to working with the Organised Private Sector in ensuring that government’s plan of truly reenergizing the local manufacturing sector was realized.
For the Vice President, constant interaction with key private sector players was important in driving Nigeria’s economic recovery agenda and ensuring inclusive growth that would also be sustainable.
He said: “continuing engagement is very critical and we will encourage meetings of smaller representative groups of the OPS as we go on because obviously we can’t wait for one quarterly business forum or the other.
“So, I will be urging that we look for one sectoral group or representative sector of the OPS which can interact with the government or government agency, but I think this is something that we should institutionalized and make more robust.
“We have met with different groups; we have met with indigenous petroleum producers, power sector operators, rice and wheat farmers, processors, local tomato producers and others. So, we felt that these engagements are also very important, while we look to this forum, in between, we should engage with small but important stakeholder groups.’’
The Vice President also solicited the support of the private sector for the Federal Government’s various initiatives aimed at revamping the economy.
According to him, “I also want to urge the OPS to endorse the policies as laid out, I believe that with the kind of partnership that we are talking about.
“It will be helpful if the OPS also engages us and is in a position to support the policies of the Federal Government and I think that that is the way to really establish the partnership and to create the confidence that is required from investors both local and internationally.’’
On the issue of state of origin and the Federal Character, the Vice President said that “clearly, the problem of course is that we require constitutional amendment with regards to issue of state of origin and federal character and I must say that not much has happened since we got into office.’’
He however noted that “as a matter of personal opinion and moral opinion, It is important that we deemphasize all of these sorts of issues as much as possible.’’
He said: “By deemphasizing, I mean that unlike what is in the constitution today that all appointments should be based on Federal Character, we should emphasize merit first and then Federal Character or whatever quota should follow, and I think that is a format that works, everywhere else any type of affirmative system comes after merit as opposed to preceding merit and I hope that this is the approach that will be adopted by the government.’’
While giving an update on the planned harmonization of national identity database in Nigeria, Prof. Osinbajo said government was working assiduously in “unifying all the various identity platforms’’.
He said: “At the moment we have NIMC, which is the main identity platform, we have the national driver’s license platform, we have the PVCs from INEC, we have BVN, we have the national passport and others, all of these platforms, we are looking at harmonizing all of them.
“We had a meeting about two weeks ago and one of the suggestions we got is to create a fresh platform that will as much as possible use available data. That is obviously a technology challenge and we are looking at how to resolve that at the moment.
“So, we expect that we will be able to come up with a NIN which is the Nigerian Identification Number, which is the ultimate objective of the whole identity plan in ensuring that every Nigerian is able to have a unique identification, so that is certainly in the works and we are working very hard on that.’’
On their part, other members of the economic management team made interventions and clarifications on issues raised by the OPS participants at the meeting.
The Ministers of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun said the Federal Government has introduced a funding strategy that encouraged states to approach the capital market instead of the banks to access funds for capital projects especially key infrastructure projects.
According to Mrs Adeosun, “ the strategy of accessing funding from the capital market is to enhance transparency and accountability as borrowing form the banks does not necessarily guarantee accountability.’’
On his part, the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, said the Federal Government remained committed to the actualization of its plan for the rail sector, adding that government had demonstrated its commitment through the release of its counterpart funds for the revitalization key rail lines across the country.
The minister said the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ibadan; Port- Harcourt- Calabar rail lines are on course and at different stage of work.
On the planned closure of the Abuja airport for rehabilitation works, the Minister of Aviation, Mr Hadi Sirika said the project was inevitable and “was indeed about necessity, it was a question of safety’’.
“It is our own moral responsibility to ensure that the guarantee safety on the Abuja airport.
“We have made a lot of arrangement to ensure that that road is safe, secure and comfortable for all those using the roads.
“We are deploying security personnel at every major intersection point and there will also be helicopter patrols by the Nigerian Police to ensure safety on that route.’’
On the movement of intending passengers to and from the Kaduna airport, the minister said arrangements have been concluded to move all intending passengers “free of charge to and from the Kaduna airport’’.
In his remarks, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola said contractors have resumed construction works on major roads across the country, stating that he would soon embark on a tour of ongoing works on major roads in the southeast.
Fashola however pleaded for patience and understanding from Nigerians, stating that the results would begin to manifest in due course.
According to him, “`All of what we say today rests within the context of time. The manpower that is required to deliver it even if we have all the money in place requires time, but the lack of result does not suggest that nothing is being done.’’
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Dr Udoma informed the forum that President Muhammadu Buhari would in February launch the government’s economic recovery plan document.
He said government was not oblivious of the challenges ahead and assured that Nigeria would eventually exit its present recession.
The Federal Executive Council delegation to the meeting also included the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, and the Economic Adviser to the President, Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu.
There were representations from the National Assembly as well as an encouraging attendance from the Organized Private Sector comprising captains of industry, investors in different sectors as well as representatives of some states chambers of commerce and industry.
– NAN
