TWENTY-one days after raising the hopes of Nigerians on the attainment of the Vision 20-2020 goals, the National Planning Minister Shamsudden Usman yesterday shot it down and declared it unattainable.
The Minister made the latest declaration when he met with the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The fresh position is in direct contrast with his pronouncement of April 3 this year, when he said the nation was on course in achieving the target.
It will be a miracle if the country makes the list of 25 countries by the magic year, he declared flatly.
Yesterday, he explained that in 2009 when government started the vision 20: 2020 documentation, Nigeria was number 44 in world economy, adding that if by 2020 the nation rose to number 25 he will be a proud man.
He queried, “Where were we in 2009? We were number 44. By the end of 2011, we were number 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 to say we must be there. What it’s saying is that if we get there, then these are the actions we must need to take as a country – We must do this or 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?”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) had on April reported him as saying that Nigeria had all it takes to attain the objective of becoming one of the biggest economies in the world by the year 2020.
He exuded the confidence while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of that day’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
The meeting, which was presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, also had in attendance Vice President Namadi Sambo and most Ministers.
Usman was quoted as saying that though Nigeria might not necessarily be the best economy in the world by 2020, the Vision 20:2020 envisaged that Nigeria would be one of the biggest economies by the size of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the year 2020.
Usman also yesterday blamed the crisis in the power sector on the more than 30 years of military rule.
He said: “During the military, planning was relegated. More than 30 years we neglected the power sector.”
He however said that Federal Government is on its way to transform the power sector, just the way it has transformed the telecom sector.
The Minister also noted that Nigeria has signed several bilateral and other agreements with other countries, adding that unfortunately, Nigerians are not getting the full benefit of the agreements.
Explaining the challenges facing the ministry, Usman lamented inadequate funding of programmes and projects and also capacity gaps in MDAs due to high turnover of staff, the pooling system and current subjective training and performance measures.
Other challenges he said, included late feedback/communication from MDAs hinders prompt delivery of actions; many MDAs not using officials 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 navigate its manifesto, adding that the idea behind the interaction is for people to know that the PDP led government is doing the right thing, as Nigerians expect rehabilitation of infrastructure.
He charged the minister on implementation, adding, there should be a correlation between planning execution. Tukur said: “Beside this presentation, I hope you connect with your colleagues on implementation.”
Source: Compass
