The Senate on Tuesday mandated six of its committees to investigate the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan between 2017 and 2020.
The panels were mandated to engage the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, on the issue.
The committees are National Planning; Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions; Marine Transport; Land Transport; Works and Power.
The Senate took the decision following the adoption of a motion “on the need to critically assess the performance of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017-2020.” sponsored by Senator Abdu Suleiman Kwari (APC, Kaduna North).
Kwari noted that the four year ERGP 2017-2020, which was the source document of Nigeria’s four years Appropriations Act had elapsed.
He recalled that the President, Muhammadu Buhari, launched the Plan in April of 2017 to ensure the actualisation of sustainable inclusive growth of the economy.
Kwali said, “The Plan was targeted at achieving a structural economic transformation with emphasis on improving the efficiency of both the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy.
“The key objectives of the plan were to increase our national productivity, achieve sustainable diversification of production, significantly grow our economy by 7 per cent by the year 2020, maximize the welfare of our citizens and attain food and energy security.
“We are worried that the four year plan, which has now elapsed, cannot be said to have met our desired socio-economic aspiration.
“There is the need for stock-taking to critically assess the performance of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan in order to ascertain whether the Plan has met the desired goals now that it has technically come to an end.
“In taking stock, it is imperative to benchmark the implementation outcomes of the Plan in terms of the following indices to determine: real growth in the agricultural, solid minerals and energy sectors of the economy; SMEs growth as laid out in the plan; and positive impact on our industries and manufacturing sectors.”
The meeting is also expected to assess investment in human capital, the number of jobs and wealth created, investments in health and education sectors, and investment and progress in national infrastructure among others.
Accordingly, the Senate mandated the Committees on National Planning; Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions; Marine Transport; Land Transport; Works and Power to interface with the Hon. Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning on the performance of the ERGP, whose life span has elapsed and report back on the way forward within four weeks.
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