PRESIDENT JONATHAN IS TESTED AND TRUSTED. PART OF HIS REFORMS. As attention shifts to next year’s general election, a number of President Jonathan’s image-makers have continued to draw attention to policies rolled out under the president’s Economic Transformation Agenda. Festus Akanbi examines a number of such policies Dateline: December 13, 2013 and the venue was the Lagos Hall of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja. It was the third Annual Seminar for Trade and Investment Correspondents and Editors organised by the Ministry of Trade and Investment (MITI). Murmuring and exchange of banters by newshounds gathered at the seminar were at their peak when the Minister of Trade and Investment Dr. Olusegun Aganga stepped into the podium to give an account of the economic landmarks of the President Jonathan administration. As his voice resonated in the large room, his audience, who also included heads of the various parastatals in the ministry and captains of industry were held spellbound when he began to reel out economic gains of the present administration, spanning sectors like commerce, power, aviation, finance, construction and the attendant attraction of foreign investment into the country. Aganga’s presentation was backed up by bit-by-bit accounts of the heads of the various departments in the ministry, showing the tremendous achievements of the current administration in the area of economy. However, apart from Aganga’s accounts, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has also been in the news lately, chronicling the economic legacies of the incumbent administration. Interestingly, beyond the official chronicling of economic policies of the Jonathan administration, followers of the economic policies are quick to remember that in October 2011 international ratings agency, Fitch Ratings, revised the country’s outlook upwards from negative to stable. Similarly, Standard and Poor’s, another internationally respected and independent ratings agency, revised Nigeria’s ratings from stable to positive. The Jonathan administration also initiated the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) and a seed capital of $1 billion was provided to kickstart the fund as well as establish three sub-funds- the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund; the Future Generations Fund and the Stabilisation Fund, which will be the pillars of the SWF. Although the current administration came into power on June 29, 2010, its impact in the area of economy began to manifest as early as the last quarter of 2010 when the GDP grew by a record 8.29% and by over 7% in 2011. In the first quarter of 2012, Nigeria had verifiably become the fourth fastest growing economy in the world as recently attested to by several multilateral bodies and trading partners. Financial/Banking Reform The CBN’s banking reforms, which began before the coming on board of the Jonathan administration, however, received a great boost with the setting up of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) under Jonathan’s watch. AMCON emerged as a unique institution that combines buying non-performing loans (NPLs) with loan restructuring, and re-capitalising troubled financial institutions. AMCON, as the government-owned ‘bad bank’ is known, was set up as a resolution mechanism for the Nigerian banking crisis and it is the sole owner of the three bridged banks at present–Mainstreet Bank Limited, Keystone Bank Limited and Enterprise Bank Limited. In terms of monetary policy, the administration, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, has been conservative and the regime of tight monetary policy has kept inflation at a single digit for most part of last year. Commerce and Agric In the words of Okupe, the transformation, which had taken place in the economy, transportation, agriculture, power and other critical sectors were the routes, which all developed nations had taken before now but which unfortunately had not been taken by Nigeria before now. “For the first time since independence, the Nigerian agricultural sector is attracting unprecedented Foreign Direct Investment. Over the past two years, the sector has attracted $4 billion in private sector executed letters of commitment to invest in agricultural value chains, from food crops, to export crops, fisheries and livestock. Today, Nigeria has reached an unprecedented 60 per cent sufficiency in rice production, a feat, which the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) recently described as capable of raising world rice output to a record high in the next 12 next months. The Nigeria Agricultural Bank is being restructured and recapitalised to provide loans to peasant farmers at single digit interest rates. This will be the most remarkable fund injection initiative ever undertaken by any government to empower rural peasant farmers and create wealth for rural dwellers. Export of dried cassava chips began in July 2012 and this represented the first time that Nigeria will achieve commercial scale export of dried chips, which will earn the country $136 million annually in foreign exchange. Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world with 34 million MT produced per annum. Following the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture under the Agriculture Transformation Agenda of the Jonathan administration, around $8 billion in private investments has been attracted to agric business, crop production, processing and other forms of value addition. The Jonathan administration cleansed the rot in the fertiliser distribution system. The old system, under which the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development procured and distributed fertilisers to farmers, gave way to a new dispensation where fertilisers are now sold directly to farmers and not to government. Power Perhaps, one major economic policy of this administration, which promises to have a profound impact on peoples’ lives is the successful privatisation of the power sector. Although the Roadmap for Power Sector Reform predated the current administration, the eventual unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) into 18 successor companies for greater efficiency and effectiveness in power generation and distribution was a recent development carried out by President Jonathan administration. With the creation of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the inauguration of the CEO and board of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (also known as the Bulk Trader) in August 2011, the requisite environment for private sector investment in the Nigerian power sector was created by the current administration and one of the immediate fallouts of this gesture was the memorandum of understanding signed with worldwide leaders in the power sector, General Electric. Before the end of last year, the Federal Government announced the conclusion of the privatistation of the unbundled assets of the PHCN as 13 preferred bidders met the August 21 deadline for the payment of the remaining 75 per cent of their bids for the power generation and distribution companies. Eventually, power assets were handed over to their new owners. Although power distribution is still at its lowest ebb, power sector watchers said the anticipated increase in power supply would manifest as soon as the new power sector operating firms fully settle down for business. The nation’s power plants, 10 in number, under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) scheme are expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of the year. Infrastructure Information made available by the presidency showed that a total of 651km of roads was paved in bituminous layers in 2012, while a total of 32 highway projects were completed in 2012. The administration also unveiled Operation Safe Passage, a programme aimed at recovering deplorable sections of major roads in the country. Under this programme, key roads in the six geo-political zones of the country, were rehabilitated. The radical intervention by the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme SURE-P in the road sector in 2012 resulted in accelerated work on the rehabilitation of the following projects: Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja; Benin-Ore-Sagamu dual carriageway; Onitsha-Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway; Kaduna-Maiduguri dual carriageway; East-West Road The Second Niger Bridge for which a sum of five billion naira has been set aside. As a major turnaround, Federal Government also terminated the concessioning agreement with Bi-Courtney company on the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The road rehabilitation work is currently been handled by Messrs Julius Berger and RCC, with the assurance that the project will be completed this year. Aviation As a response to the level of rot in aviation infrastructure when he came on board in 2010, the administration at the end of 2011 earmarked 22 airports for rehabilitation and reconstruction. Today, the project is almost fully completed although the progress is being overshadowed by some crisis in the aviation sector, especially in 2013. In addition to remodeling, the Jonathan administration also approved the sum of N106 billion for the construction of five new airport terminals in Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Enugu as well as six cargo terminals to be managed under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) Scheme. Transportation The administration also inaugurated the Lagos-Kano train service, which had been moribund for almost a decade. This is a major feat considering the long years of decay in the rail transportation sector. The Eastern rail line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri is being rehabilitated as well as the fixing of the Zaria/Kaura Namoda rail route. Other rail projects include the Abuja to Kaduna 187 kilometre rail line; the Ajaokuta-Warri Standard Gauge Rail line and the Lagos-Ibadan new gauge rail line. The immediate response of members of the international community to these strings of policies is the renewed confidence of international investors in the Nigerian economy. The Jonathan administration’s handling of the economy led to JP Morgan Chase the reputable American investment and Securities Company to list Nigeria on its Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM). It is the second African company after South Africa to be listed. This inclusion of Nigerian bonds could mean an `inflow of at least $1.5 million of inflow into Nigeria’s bond market.’ Pension Reforms In its bid to check corruption in pension fund administration, the administration set up of the Presidential Pension Reform Task force Team. The taskforce was able to detect and delete over 73,000 ghost/fake pensioners from the Head of Service/Police Pension Office, stopped a monthly theft of over N4 billion from the National treasury; discovered over 50,000 unpaid pensioners and immediate payment of their entitlement and seizure of about 200 properties including choice hotels and cash worth billions of naira from corrupt public officials, among others. Oil Industry The current administration also succeeded in forwarding the Petroleum Industry Bill to the National Assembly for passage into law. By the time the Petroleum Industry Bill is passed into law, Nigeria would have successfully broken the jinx of being a nation where global business rules and practices are flouted with impunity. Estimated annual earnings of 680 billion dollars would be added to our Gross DomesticP Another interesting development in the oil industry was the signing into law of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Bill 2010 (Local Content Bill), which has increased Local Content in the Oil and Gas sector. The administration’s effort in the oil sector has also paved the way for the decision of the foremost billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote to float a private refinery in Nigeria. And in its commitment to achieve efficiency in oil sector, the federal government is planning to privatise the nation’s four refineries. Furthermore, the fuel subsidy regime, which had been a conduit pipe through which huge funds were siphoned from the national treasury has been subjected to forensic scrutiny by various agencies and committees set up by the president and the effort has succeeded in pruning down the number of fuel marketers in the country. The Aig-Imoukhuede Presidential committee on verification and reconciliation of subsidy claims and payments led to the arrest and arraignment of a number of individuals and firms by the EFCC, though no one has been clamped into jail over the oil subsidy fraud. But a major sore point for the government is the ongoing incessant crude oil theft, which had drastically reduced oil revenue, the main stay of the economy. Port Reforms Various port reforms were put in place by the Jonathan administration, which has continued to remove opportunities for bribery, documents forgery and other sharp-practices in the Nigerian ports. Port users said the reform and monitoring by the ministry of finance and ministry of transport has improved efficiency and transparency in ports operations and management.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 09:45:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015