ERGP to deliver 15m jobs by 2020 –Minister

The Federal Government said it planned to create about 15 million jobs by 2020 through its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, made this known yesterday while speaking at the presentation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Regional Economic Outlook Report for Sub-Sahara Africa at the ongoing 2018 IMF/ World Bank Group annual meetings in Bali, Indonesia.

The ERGP is a four-year medium-term strategic blueprint of the Federal Government covering 2017 to 2020 and focusing on human capital investment, restoration of economic growth, and building a competitive economy.

Udoma said the Federal Government will attract $22 billion private sector investments through ERGP “Focused Laboratories” in two years, urging Nigerians to remain patient as it may take that period to start enjoying the benefits.

“We intend to achieve this principally through stimulating the private sector. Our aim is to make Nigeria a more investment-friendly place, a more attractive place for people to do business.

“We have conducted sector specific labs, which we referred to as the ERGP Focus Labs, to bring potential investors and government officials together to seek to remove the bottlenecks and impediments impeding investment projects.

“We identified over $22 billion of potential investments which could be unlocked, if we can remove some of these impediments,” he said.

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The minister added that the government had set up a crack team of four experts who were recruited to work with stakeholders in the private sector on ways to have the expected investors come in under the economic plan.

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had in May assured Nigerians that the first phase of ERGP Focus Labs conducted by the Federal Government was expected to attract $22.5 billion worth of investment into the country and create over 500,000 jobs by 2020.

Focus Labs, which focus on Agriculture and Transport, Manufacturing and Processing as well as Power and Gas, are designed as workshop-style closed-door investment fora between private sector and senior government officials for detailed discussions to address some of the bottlenecks and inhibitions of additional business investments in the economy, according to Buhari.

 

 

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