FG’s policy thrust will birth $1trn economy for Nigeria,  says group

The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI), a pressure group, has said the policy thrust of the President Bola Tinubu administration has set the stage for Nigeria to attain the status of a one trillion dollars economy in the next eight years.

This is contained in a statement on Monday in Abuja, by Mr Niyi Akinsiju, Chairman of the IMPI.

Akinsiju said that the administration’s decision to partner with private sector players would make it a reality, adding that the feat could be achieved within the next eight years.

“It is at this intersection of public and private spending and gross capital formation that we situate the declaration by the Tinubu’s administration that it aspires to a possible one trillion dollar economic size for the country over the next eight years.

“This is given the nation’s constricted economic space and the corruption and bureaucracy that had traditionally and historically constrained the ease of doing business

“This declaration may be dismissed as political sloganeering and a fortuitous use of economic phrase to ingratiate the government in the public minds.

“But, our readings of the policy deployment environment since that declaration was made, will confirm the plausibility of the declaration,” he said.

Akinsiju noted that the IMPI’s thinking was premised on two principal policies showing the seriousness and commitment of the federal government to engineer 100 per cent point expansion of the country’s economy.

He expressed optimism that this would effectively enhance per capital Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in alignment with global requirements and actual higher standard of living impact on the average Nigerian.

“The Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund (RHIDF), the Presidential Economic Co-ordination Council, and the embedded Economic Management Team, and the Emergency Taskforce are the policy initiatives which we believe will change the tide of economic narratives of the country.

“Our aggregated view of these policies is that they constitute both the framework and fulcrum of the Tinubu’s presidency vision for a trillion dollar economic size,” he said.

He cited incessant underfunding of capital projects in annual budgets over the years, saying the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund would go a long way to redress the situation.

He also explained that the RHIDF was the outcome of critical thinking from a leadership that understood the place of infrastructure renewal and enhancement in enabling and driving economic growth.

He added that it compares to the U.S,’ 1.2 trillion dollars Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) signed into law by President Joe Biden two years ago.

He further added that like the BIL, the underlying intendment of the RHIDF was to invest in infrastructure that could strengthen long-term productive capacity while creating opportunities for people in disadvantaged communities.

“Two years down the line, the BIL is acclaimed to have been largely successful in accomplishing its stated objectives on account of the availability of reliable funding sources”.

Akinsiju while admitting that there had been entities such as the PECC in the past, said President Tinubu must had determinedly corrected the shortfall of the membership composition of similar entities of the past

This, he said, included State Governors, all service and spending MDAs and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He added that its expansive nature enhanced its structures to be beyond being an advisory body as obtained in the past to a quasi-decision making entity.

“The PECC is comparable to the Economic Co-ordination Committee of Pakistan which is both a federal institution and a consultative forum with responsibility to finalise executive economic decisions and to assist the Prime Minister and his key staff on issues involving economic security and geo-economic policies,” he said.

He noted that the inclusion of members of the organised private sector in the PECC conditioned on a one year tenure, was to allow inflow and outflow of credible private sector stakeholders in the committee.

“Operationally, the Economic Management Team (EMT) is attached to the PECC as its working group,

“This effectively, makes the PECC the direct report of the EMT such that it is monitored by and accountable to the PECC,” the IMPI chairman added. (NAN)

By Emmanuel Mogbede