• Minister says goal not realistic
• Sanusi blames nation's woes on economy, others
NIGERIA may not be one of the 20 most developed economies in the world in 2020, according to the National Planning Minister, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman. For him, that target is no more realistic and would rather make a shift to one of the world's top 25.
And for the Central Bank Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido, the nation's problems which include insecurity, youth unemployment and poor infrastructure are linked to a dysfunctional economy.
Usman told the leadership of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja during the on-going review of ministers' performance that the problems in the electricity sector emanated from the neglect it suffered during the over 30 years of military rule before 1999.
The minister said that Nigeria would still have made significant progress even it could not rank among the 20 most developed economies but among the 25.
He said that when government started the Vision 20:2020 in 2009, Nigeria was number 44. "Where were we in 2009? We were number 44. By the end of 2011, we were number 39, by the end of 2012, we were 36.This is progress. We made quite a lot of progress. In other areas we are not. I don't want any of you to meet me in 2020 and say you are the one telling us that we are going to be among the top 20.
"But what I am saying is that even if we are not among the 20 by that time, we were number 44 in 2009. If by 2020 we are number 25, I will be a very proud man. The reason is because we are consciously moving and doing all the necessary things to move up there.
"It's not saying we must be there. What I am saying is if we get there then these are the actions we must need to take as a country. We must do this and that in governance, in human development, in infrastructure. That is what the document is saying and we are actually taking those steps and if we are, what progress are we making?"
Blaming the failure of the electricity sector on the military, Usman said: "During the military, planning was relegated. More than 30 years we neglected the power sector. That is why we found our power sector in the problems we found it."
He, however, said that the Federal Government was on its way to transforming the electricity sector, just the way it transformed the telecoms sector.
The minister also lamented the failure of the country to take advantage of the many bilateral agreements it signed with other countries on developmental issues.
He said Nigerians were not getting the full benefit of signing all these agreements. Usman listed the challenges facing the ministry, which include inadequate funding of programmes and projects; low capacity gaps in MDAs due to high turnover of staff, the pooling system and the existing subjective training and performance measures.
Other challenges include: "Late feedback/communication from MDAs; many MDAs not using official NBS statistics; absence of strategic plans in some MDAs; inadequate Information Technology (IT) hardware for MDAs networking; National Planning and projects continuity Bill dormant in the National Assembly; absence of a legal framework for the performance contracting system, among others."
Earlier, the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur said that through planning the party could achieve its manifesto, adding that the idea behind the interaction was for people to know that the PDP-led government was doing the right thing.
The National Working Committee (NWC) of PDP expressed dismay at what it called poor publicity for the achievements so far recorded by the President Goodluck Jonathan-led PDP administration.
In a statement yesterday, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh , said that the ministries should strengthen their publicity departments to enlighten Nigerians more on their activities.
As a guest speaker at the maiden Abia State Ochendo Lecture Series at Umuahia yesterday, Sanusi lamented that Nigeria, with abundant cassava, still imports starch, a by-product of cassava, as well as rice and flour.
According to him, the country is very good at importing what it can produce and exporting what it cannot. However, he stressed that the remedy would be the restructuring of the economy hence he lauded Governor Theodore Orji for privatizing the state's palm and rubber plantations.
In his lecture on "Youth Employment as Panacea to Insecurity in Nigeria", he noted that insecurity could be caused or fueled by unemployment, ethno-religious conflict, politically-based violence, economic-based violence, corruption, maladministration ethics, faulty culture, and political interference, among others.
The Guardian
We should not think of breaking records now. Let us just try to improve this country to a reasonable height.