Transformation Agenda: THE MILESTONE PRESIDENT Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s government has made good its promises to use the plethora of projects and programmes conceived under its Transformation Agenda to significantly grow the economy and improve the living standard of the citizens. Barely one year after President Jonathan made that solemn transformational pledge of ‘promising less, but delivering more’, his administration has recorded landmark achievements in all aspects of national life. SOUND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT Since assuming office in May 29, 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan’s economic team has been implementing far-reaching reforms and policies conceived in the economic blue print which seek, among other things, to revive the country’s infrastructure, diversify the economy from oil and create a vibrant economy. The President had on several occasions reiterated the commitment of his administration to make Nigeria a better place and a global economic power, using the 2012-2015 Medium Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) and Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) as the linchpin. Apart from setting up clear-cut guidelines for the four-year fiscal regime, the economic blueprint also recommends prudent management of the nation’s wealth to free up more funds for infrastructure projects and other developmental purposes. Finance minister has consistently reiterated government’s resolve to keep fiscal deficit under 3%, in the coming years. Overall, the present administration states in the documents that its Fiscal Strategy and Economic Objectives over the 2012-2015 period will focus a large portion of spending on key sectors which include Security, Infrastructure (including Power), Agriculture, Manufacturing, Housing and Construction, Entertainment, Education, Health and ICT. While delivering the 2012 budget, anchored on the new fiscal framework last December before the National Assembly, President Jonathan had assured that his administration has found the magic wand. “My government is determined to pursue policies that will ensure a stable macroeconomic environment through a strong and prudent fiscal policy, manageable deficits, sustainable debt-GDP ratio of no more than 30%, and single digit inflation, thereby promoting real growth. We believe that these measures would engender a stable and competitive exchange rate and help to reverse the declining trend of our international reserves”, Jonathan declared. SEALING LEAKAGES The government has also taken steps to increase its non-oil revenues by blocking loopholes in the system, including partial removal of subsidy on imported petroleum products. Consequently, the committee on Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment (SURE) Programme launched by the government to manage the savings accruing from the petroleum import funds has set up an international metrics for monitoring, measuring and evaluating each project executed based on the Poverty and Social Impact Analyses model. Chairman of the committee, Dr. Christopher Kolade, had announced that the programme specifically focused on service delivery and must remain so. “We are going beyond rhetorics to execute the mandate of making sure that the money budgeted is used to alleviate the immediate impact of petroleum subsidy discontinuation on Nigerians, accelerate economic transformation through investment in critical infrastructure projects so as to drive economic growth and achieve Vision 20:2020 and lay a foundation for the successful development of a national safety-net programme that is better targeted at the poor and most vulnerable on a continuous basis,” Dr. Kolade said. Implementation of the SURE programme, part of which involves provision of public mass transit service, construction and maintenance of roads, provision of maternal and child health care service especially in rural areas and vocational training centres, has since begun. It is noteworthy that the process of recovering mismanaged funds from the subsidy programme has not only begun, but the Presidency is equally reforming the country’s tax system and improving internally generated revenue. Interestingly too, the government has taken practical steps towards fulfilling its promise to drastically reduce recurrent expenditure to a sustainable level. STABLE POWER SECTOR Against all odds, Nigeria is on the verge of permanently resolving its power sector crisis. The government made significant leap towards solving the decades-long power sector crisis recently when it increased the electricity generation above 4,000 megawatts, the highest ever. Ministry of Power Prof Barth Nnaji disclosed that it had reduced the incidence of system collapses in the power sector. “Nigeria used to experience an average of four system collapse every month, that is, almost 50 system failures annually. Much as we have reduced the failures in the last one year, our goal is to reduce them to zero,” Prof. Nnaji declared. According to him, the achievements recorded in the sector in recent time have raised fresh hopes of meeting the 15,000mw target by 2014 and 40,000mw for stable electricity in 2020. Prof. Nnaji recently announced that despite the challenges facing the sector, the government has made stable electricity a top priority by the end of 2012. “We acknowledge that in many homes there is no power. But we are working hard to improve that. Our goal is to make Nigerians have power continuously for 24 hours. We have now set up a framework for all stakeholders to be involved in delivering power. Therefore, we hope to deliver additional 1,500MW of power to the grid by year end”, he promised. As part of plans to achieve stable power supply, the government launched the power sector reform road-map and invested huge resource in the project. Also, as part of measures to achieve sustainable industrial growth, the government had put in place certain measures to attract foreign investors into the power sector. Notable development in this regard was the establishment of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc, to enhance smooth operations between the various independent power producers and distribution companies. In its bid to make the sector attractive to private investment, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) also introduced new electricity tariff to take effect from June, 2012. ”There are opportunities in that; this is a business which is not serving us efficiently enough, generating revenue of N300-N400 billion. We estimate that within the next 5 years, it will go well over N1.5 trillion,” explained, NERC Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi. The commission has also made provision for free meters in a bid to help solve the problems of estimated billings. The initiatives are already bearing fruits, as the government has struck a number of power development deals. In March, Nigeria received the highest expression of investment support by a foreign investor in the power sector when the federal government and the General Electric (GE) Energy of the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for $10 billion power projects. Under the MoU, which was signed at the Nigerian High Commission in London, the $10 billion would be invested in various power plants with combined capacity of 10,000mw, with GE taking 15 per cent equity in each of the power plants. The government, on May 15, signed another agreements with two French companies, valued at about $200 million or N3.14 billion, for the expansion of the country’s transmission network. The deal which also enjoyed the blessing of the French government will see the companies undertake the feasibility studies for the transmission upgrade, and thereafter, select and construct a high voltage transmission line and substations. Transmission hiccups remain the biggest challenge in Nigeria’s power delivery system, as the existing 330 and 132 kv network continue to suffer from prolonged and frequent outages, thus underscoring the need for fortification. Sequel to the new deal, the French power firms — Electricite de France (EDF) and the Enterprise de Transporte et Distribution D’electricity (ETDE) — will source the funds from their home government in form of grants to execute the projects. According to the Ministry of Power, the French companies are to partner with a Nigerian company, Transnational Energy and Power Systems (TEPS) Ltd, for the execution of the project, in line with government’s local content policy. “This is a sign of investors growing confidence on the power sector reform. We believe that the Jonathan administration is on the threshold of providing Nigerians with the true dividends of democracy and democratic leadership,” commended the CEO of TEPS, Prince Albert Awofisayo. The federal government also sealed a N240 billion ($1.6 billion) energy and housing deal with a consortium of Swiss and European investors last September. The group, comprising Seagas Services Limited and Oceanmar Services Limited, was led by the First Deputy Prime Minister and Head of International Affairs and Investments, Republic of Kosovo, Behgjet Pacolli. The government’s effort to improve power generation in the country, especially through renewable energy, also got a boost last May when it received a grant of $7.84 million (N2billion) from the government of Japan. The donation under “The Project for Introduction of Clean Energy by Solar Electricity Generation System” was granted to Nigeria for the provision of solar electricity generation systems and to tackle climate change. Besides wooing foreign investors, the government has taken practical measures to involve local investors in the efforts to solve the country’s electricity crisis. To this end, the NERC recently issued two new regulations that empower states, local governments and communities with the financial muscle to generate and distribute electricity. Through the regulations entitled: “NERC Regulation on Embedded Generation 2012”, the government has practically relinquished its exclusive rights over power. Meanwhile, recent investigation reveal noticeable improvement in power supply in many parts of the country, on the strength of government’s interventions in the sector. Certain areas that experienced severe outages are now enjoying hours of power supply daily. Prof. Nnaji, who declared that the improvement in power supply in parts of the country is not a fluke, vows to sustain the tempo. “We will certainly sustain what we have achieved and we are taking deliberate steps to attain this. We have a programme to recover as soon as possible lost capacities at existing power plants. Coupled with the scheduled inauguration of some plants being built under the National Integrated Power Project, we are optimistic of achieving the target of 6,000mw in 2012,” he said. In conjunction with other economic team players, the minister has taken proactive measures to tackle inefficiency in the power sector. One of such measures was the placement of all chief executives of the 18 PHCN successor companies on performance indicators to engender efficient service delivery. “Every CEO who meets the expectations of the people will be rewarded and any CEO who fails to justify the confidence reposed in him will have to go elsewhere. Competence is the guiding principle,” Nnaji said. To demonstrate that he meant his words, the minister had sacked non-performing managers and chief executives in the sector, replacing them with more competent ones. And since he started wielding the big stick, services across the distribution and transmission channels have improved tremendously. AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION ON COURSE Apparently piqued by the country’s spending of well over N1.3 trillion per annum on the importation of foodstuffs which it could produce locally, President Jonathan is determined to end the importation of rice before the end of his tenure in 2015. “Before we leave office in 2015, we must stop the importation of rice. There is no reason Nigeria should be importing rice. We have all that is needed to grow enough for domestic consumption and have a surplus we can export to other countries,” the President assured. True to his pledge, Dr Jonathan handed the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, the task and the tool with which to transform the sector, guarantee food security and reduce decreasing the country’s embarrassing food imports. The agenda also involves making agriculture, together with manufacturing, the lynchpin of the Nigerian economy. As a commitment to his mandate, Dr. Adesina recently declared that his ministry has come up with a new strategy for achieving a hunger-free Nigeria through an agricultural sector that drives income growth, accelerates achievement of food and nutritional security, generates employment and transforms Nigeria into a leading player in global food markets. According to him, the government is focusing on the agriculture value chain where Nigeria has comparative advantage. “We will focus on collaborating with state and local governments; inter-ministerial collaboration, private sector, farmer groups and civil society as well as targeting the youth and women for equitable growth,” the minister said. The transformation from rustic farming to mechanized agriculture which requires empowering local farmers to adopt modern and cost-effective technologies is now vigorously pursued. The Ministry of Agriculture is working towards engendering improved quality and distribution of fertilizers; marketing reforms; innovative financing and developing commodity exchange; research and development; competitive exchange rates; and development of storage infrastructure. These new measures are aimed at liberating the country from food insufficiency and making it a major food exporter in the nearest future. Interestingly, the National Economic Management Team has unveiled an Agriculture Transformation Agenda (ATA) which has the capacity to generate over 3.5 million jobs. “To ensure food security and create wealth, 11 commodity value chains: rice, sorghum, cocoa, maize, soybean, oil palm, cotton, cassava, livestock, fisheries and horticulture, have been formulated as part of plans to achieve huge increase in production, starting from 2012,” he said. The government is also assisting companies to raise funds from banks to finance input purchase with about N30 billion earmarked for the programme in this year. In addition, government has agreed to pay 10 per cent achievement fees for companies meeting 100 per cent of supply of seeds and fertilizers to farmers. As part of fixing the challenges in the sector, the Nigeria Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agriculture Lending (NIRSAL) is expected to leverage N450 billion from banks into agricultural value chains. Marketing Corporations are being established for selected agricultural value chains to coordinate the production, investments, grades and standards, market price stabilization, among others for selected value chains in Nigeria. These efforts are geared towards realizing the government’s target. To ensure that the target is met, the Agric Ministry has developed four key principles in executing the programmes. The first principle called ‘subsidiarity’ touches every part of the country’s agricultural value chain would simultaneously. The second approach, involves working within a framework of strategic partnerships with the private sector, civil society and particularly farmers. The third principle is to treat agricultural endeavour as an investment which must generate return like any other viable business, while the fourth focuses on using bottom-top approach to engender accountability and delivery of results in the entire programme. Dr Adesina, other ministries, departments and agencies are equally contributing to the success of the agricultural revolution project. “We are going to produce an agricultural scorecard in which we will look at the progress we are making and not just the Federal Ministry of Agriculture but a lot of ministries that are critical to making that sector work; the issue of power, water and roads, so we are going to come up with a plan in which there is will be accountability at all levels,” he said. TRANSPORT SECTOR REVIVAL Lately, Nigeria’s transport sector has shown signs that the reforms initiated by the federal government over the years have started yielding fruits. This follows marching orders by the federal government for the completion of all ongoing projects as a matter of urgent national priority. The projects include the dual-carriage Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road; construction of Oju-Loko-Oweto bridge linking Nassarawa and Benue states; dual-carriage Kano-Maiduguri road; construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge in Delta/Anambra states; rehabilitation of the Shagamu-Ore-Benin dual carriageway; and the rehabilitation of the Onitsha-Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway. Government has also unveiled plan to finance six critical road projects in the six geo-political zones in addition to the introduction of a new mass transit bus scheme with the proceeds accruable from the partial deregulation of the oil sector through the SURE Programme. Apart from massive rehabilitation of roads and airports across the country, the federal government has also initiated policies to make the transport sector a private sector-driven through a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model. In what looks like a major milestone, the federal government on May 14 announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership deals with foreign and local investors to rehabilitate and construct major roads across the country. Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, said three important projects, the Apakun (Oshodi)-Murtala Muhammed Airport Road, Lagos, the Second Niger Bridge in Delta and Anambra states and the Nupeko Bridge in Niger State, have been earmarked for execution through the PPP-funding model. According to him, there are positive responses from local and international investors to the advertisement by the ministry in December 2011 for Expression of Interest by consultants wishing to act as Transaction Advisors and would-be concessionaires. “The final stages of the selection of successful transaction advisors and commissionaires are on-going. Many more projects under the PPP funding model are being prepared for procurement as the Outline Business Case (OBC) for each of them had been completed,” Onolomemen said, adding that the ministry had been able to attract foreign investors. “The ministry has also been actively engaged in foreign investment drive in which potential investors from the USA, France, China, Egypt, etc, are encouraged to intervene in the road sector. Already, Expressions of Interest had been received from several of them and are currently being assessed,” he added. Aside executing road projects across the country, the federal government has intensified efforts towards fixing the railways, with the commencement of Mass Train Transit Service (MTTS) on several routes, among which is the Lagos-Ilorin train service which began operations recently. The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has taken practical steps in its efforts to resume goods haulage across Nigeria following the launch of Ewekoro-Ilorin weekly cement haulage. The Minister of Transport, Alhaji Idris Umar, recently disclosed that the corporation has finalized plans to commence the haulage of petroleum products and agricultural produce across the country. “The haulage activity of the NRC is to cover every aspect of our economy. The Lafarge/WAPCO Cement Company only partnered with the corporation. And we are going to embark on the movement of petroleum products and agricultural produce among others,” the minister said, adding that the ongoing railway revitalization and modernization is designed to enhance economic growth of the country. The corporation is expected to take delivery of 20 pressurised tank wagons it ordered last year for the haulage of petroleum products across the country. This would also come side by side with the introduction of special wagons for the movement of agricultural produce in the country. Efforts are also in top gear to ensure that construction companies (China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC), Esser Contracting and Industry Ltd and Lingo Nigeria Ltd) handling the rehabilitation of the 2,119-kilometres three Eastern rail lines meets the 10 months completion deadline. The three Eastern lines, comprising 463 kilometres rail lines from Port Harcourt to Makurdi; 1,016 kilometres rail lines from Makurdi to Kuru, with the inclusion of spur line to Jos and Kafanchan; and 640 kilometres rail lines from Kuru to Maiduguri were awarded at a cost of N67,337,252,898.30. Alhaji Umar insists that the completion of the contracts, whose scope covers a comprehensive rehabilitation of the tracks, bridges and culverts within the 2,119 kilometres track lines, would be the climax of the comprehensive rehabilitation campaign embarked upon by the Jonathan administration a year ago. Apart from the ongoing rehabilitation of the entire fixed and movable assets of the rail transport industry with the 1,315 kilometre Lagos-to-Kano track, the government has procured 25 new general electric locomotive engines and workshop equipment; installed three generators of 1,000KVA, 750 KVA and 5,000 KVA; and refurbished 500 wagons and coaching facilities. The federal government has also made tremendous progress in repositioning the country’s aviation sector with the completion of the first phase of airport rehabilitation project. The N38 billion-worth project which involves remodeling of 11 national airports have reached completion stage, with the second phase commencing in June. Some of the airports being remodeled in the first phase are the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe Intenational Airport, Abuja; Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri; Yola Airport and Benin Airports. Minister of Aviation Princess Stella Oduah explained that the facility upgrade at the designated airports was part of the comprehensive programme of the government aimed at making the country’s aviation industry the best in the continent. “We want to make sure that we don’t play with customers’ safety at all times, which is why we are doing total reconstruction of the airports. Every airport going forward will be branded new with double capacities. Every airport in the country would be remodeled”, she promised. She also reiterated the commitment of the present administration to seeing that air travelers using the nation’s facilities enjoy value for their money. “We want to ensure that passengers have safe of transportation and value for their money. Most importantly, we want every Nigerian and stakeholder to be proud of our airport environments. It is a total transformation of the aviation sector,” the minister said. Interestingly too, the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) is being repositioned to deliver on the expected capacity building needed by the sector as well as for export. In the maritime sector, government has equally initiated reforms to tackle the rot in the Nigerian ports. The reforms, which came in various phases, were geared towards eliminating the hiccups in the operations of the nation’s seaports in Onne, Calabar, Warri, Lagos, Koko and Sapele. INVESTMENT HAVEN Being Africa’s largest market with a population of about 160 million people and 25% of the continent’s GDP, Nigeria is gunning to become, not only the largest economy in Africa but a top 20 economy in the next decade. To achieve that, the country requires massive foreign direct investment estimated at US$10 trillion. The Jonathan administration’s quest for- an- nvestment-driven economy led to the creation of a Ministry of Trade and Investment which is already bearing good fruits. Since the creation of the ministry, there have been worthwhile investment commitments in the power, manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum and mining sectors, among others worth trillions of dollars. In a bid to fast-track the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment into the country, the government also created Trade and Investment desks within Nigeria’s main embassies to act as facilitators, first points of contact and sources of information for investors. Besides, the ministry is also collaborating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop commercial objectives for the country’s main embassies. To this end, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has approved that genuine foreign investors entering the country be given multiple entry visas at the point of entry. It is the first time such a policy would be put in place in Nigeria. The move appear to be yielding positive results, going by the ministry’s reports on embassies’ operations. This move, according to many Nigerian ambassadors abroad, has made them busy and opened up the economy for a turnaround. In a bid to boost the country’s investment potential and competitiveness in business environment, the Government, through the Ministry of Trade and Investment, has mapped out a four-year plan. According to the ministry, the government had set up two committees - ‘Doing business and competitiveness’ and ‘Investor-care’; with numerous terms of reference as a first step in a series of well laid-out plans to achieve the set targets. The ambitious programme, which enjoys the support of the UK Department for International Development, World Bank and other international organisations, involves clearing all bottlenecks inhibiting the full actualisation of Nigeria’s trade potential and repositioning the country’s trade to serve as a catalyst for job creation, wealth generation and economic transformation. “Nigeria is a very green area for investors”. Basically from 1999 to date, we have established a democratic government. For investors, Nigeria has strong laws and media. No president can just change laws that can affect investors. There has never been a better time to invest in the country than now,” President Jonathan explains. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT The government is not relenting in its resolve to provide basic amenities for its teeming population. Plans to kick of massive housing and road construction projects, which will serve as a great potential for job creation, have reached advanced stage. Education is equally a top priority of the Jonathan administration. Dr Okonjo-Iweala recently reiterated government’s commitment to improve the quality of education in the country. According to her, Dr Jonathan’s administration identifies education as a pivotal sector that deserves priority investment for the creation of a competitive labour force. To this end, the government is undertaking holistic measures to improve quality of learning at all levels, increase secondary enrolment and completion rates by 10%, with special focus on women. Education Minister, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai believes that “provision of quality education to Nigeria will become a reality within the next five years, while the overhaul of the education sector will be completed in 10 years provided the education reform agenda is dutifully implemented.” She posits that the focus is on two primary issues: access and equity, as well as standards and quality assurance. “Whatever we are going to do right from primary, junior secondary, secondary and tertiary, we have to actually focus on the quality of education vis-a-vis the issue of access to schools”. Another area that government is desperately trying to improve is the health sector. Aware of the fact that good health contributes to economic growth, government is seeking to improve the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). It is equally taking practical steps to ensure that the country meets the MDGs target on health. To this end, efforts have been geared towards improving the quality of health care services offered in government hospitals, while providing the enabling policy environment for private health care practitioners to offer quality services. Actualizing Vision 20: 2020 The goal of the Vision 20:2020 policy is to restructure the economy by diversifying its productivity base for greater domestic content and value. This way, the economy will be on track towards making Nigeria one of the world’s top 20 economies by 2020. Minister of Planning and Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NCP), Dr Shamsuddeen Usman believes Nigerian is on course: “with the little we have done, the Nigerian economy has moved from 44th position in 2009 to 41st,” he says confidently. The NPC has outlined medium-term implementation plans that would enable it to embark on proper growth targets and evaluation. About N35 trillion would be required to achieve the 2011 - 2015 medium-term plan, funding for which will be provided by the federal, state and local governments as well as the private sector. “Government has directed the tracking of performance of MDAs at the federal and state level, out of which 92 MDAs were evaluated. We must begin to imbibe international best practices,” Usman says. Following the fresh marching orders of President Jonathan on the transformation project, the minister has assured that the country’s that it growth targets will be met especially as the government is determined to encourage more private sector participation in the economy, while plugging leakages to save funds for implementation of the growth projections.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 16:16:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015