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Bill Gates, El-Rufai disagree on Buhari’s economic plan

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Famous American billionaire businessman and philanthropist, Bill Gates has said the present economic plan of the Muhammadu Buhari administration cannot address the unique needs of Nigerians.

The founder of Microsoft and Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, however said Nigeria possessed the ability to approach “upper middle-income status” like Brazil, China and Mexico, but added that achieving this status depended on “the choice Nigerian leaders make”.

Gates, who spoke at the special and expanded National Economic Council (NEC) meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, tasked Nigerian leaders to sincerely invest in not just infrastructural development but also human capital.

The theme of the meeting was, “Role of human capital investment in supporting pro-poor and economic growth agenda”.

The tech investor said though Nigeria was rapidly approaching upper-middle income status, the country had ”unmatched economic potential and what becomes of that potential depends on the choice Nigerian leaders make”.

He said the Nigerian government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) identifies “investing in our people” as one of three “strategic objectives”.

But the “execution priorities” do not fully reflect people’s needs, ”prioritising physical capital over human capital”, he said.

“To anchor the economy over the long term, investments in infrastructure and competitiveness must go hand in hand with investment in people. People without roads ports and factories can’t flourish. And roads, ports and factories without skilled workers to build and manage them can’t sustain an economy,” he said.

Gates said the most important choice Nigerian leaders can make is ”to maximise the country’s greatest resource, which is the people”.

He said Nigeria will thrive when every Nigerian is able to thrive.

“If you invest in their health, education, and opportunities- the human capital we are talking about today, then they will lay the foundation for sustained prosperity. If you don’t, however, then it is very important to recognise that there will be a sharp limit on how much the country can grow,” he said.

According to him, Nigeria’s government revenue as a percentage of its GDP, at 6 per cent, was by far the lowest in the world, making government’s investment in Nigerians difficult.

“The next lowest country, Bangladesh collects 10 per cent of its GDP. If you got yourself up to second to the last in the world, you would have an extra $18 billion to budget. Obviously, you are aiming higher, but it gives you some idea about the scale we are talking about.

“We want to support you in your work to mobilise resources to invest in your country and I urge you to rethink your investment on Nigerian people,” he said.

But in his reaction, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, faulted Gates’ claim.

El-Rufai, in an interview with State House correspondents at the end of a special session of the National Economic Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said, “It is not correct to say that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan does not give primacy to human capital, it is not correct.

“The plan has enough provision for human capital, it is a Federal Government’s plan. What is needed is for states to have similar plans as well as adequate provisions for healthcare and education because the bulk of the burden for healthcare and education really rests on states governments.

“The disease burden of the country is largely at the primary healthcare level and this primary healthcare system is broken completely. We need to rebuild it”.

Read also: CBN’S MPC: Senate rejects Buhari’s nominee, confirms 5 others

He said the emphasis should be to appeal to state governments to provide more money for basic education and primary healthcare.

He added, “The United Nations recommends that we should budget at least 26 percent of our total budget on education, many state governments are doing that or near that.

“Kaduna State has done averagely 35 percent in the last two years. The World Health Organisation recommends that we budget at least 16 percent of total budget on healthcare, some of our states are doing 12 and 16 percent and so on.

“Kaduna is doing 16.1 percent, we moved three percent in 2016 to 16 percent today. So the states’ government are scaling up their investments in healthcare but we need to do more.

“This is the message of Gates and Dangote, we need to do much more at the sub-national level.

“It is not the ERGP that needs adjustments, it is the budgeting that needs to be ramped up in these two key areas because these are where the problems are.

“If a child losses equality education, he is done for life. If a child doesn’t get quality healthcare in the first two years, he is destroyed for life. This is the message that we invest more at the lower level, so that we prevent this disaster from happening.”

Also speaking at the event, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote said for the next generation to thrive as adults and drive economic progress, ”the government need to invest in their health and wellbeing”.

“The government need to invest in the youth’s ability to learn and apply new skills in an ever changing global economy. That at its core, is what we mean by human capital; healthy and productive and well-educated young people who are then enabled to succeed, lift up themselves and their families, and contribute to the society through their own ingenuity.

“As a business leader, it is my responsibility to offer job opportunity, but I can only do that when the people themselves are healthy and have the basic skills,” he added.

 

 

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