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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government, on Wednesday, dismissed the Brookings Report on Nigeria as the new global headquarters of poverty as it now has the highest number of poor persons in the world.
It argued that the indices used for the report may have been complied when Nigeria was in recession.
Findings by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC, America, published a week ago indicated that Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the largest number of extreme poor in early 2018.
“At the end of May 2018, our trajectories suggest that Nigeria had about 87 million people in extreme poverty compared with India’s 73 million. What is more, extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute, while poverty in India continues to fall”, Brookings Institution stated.
But responding to questions from State House correspondents on the report, Minister of Trade and Investments, Okechukwu Enelamah, notes that the indices used for the report may have been complied when Nigeria was in recession.
He described the report as nothing to worry about because the current administration’s urgent infrastructure programmes and enabling environment for businesses will make poverty in the country disappear.
His words: “I think first, we need to understand when we get these reports that there are reports that are lagging in indicators which means, people are reporting on history. There are reports that are leading indicators which means that they are forward looking and of course, there reports that capture generally what you do which is current. They are actually dealing with what is current. So, when you get reports from Brooking institute or all sorts of people, you need to look at the context. Somebody may have written a report when we were in recession.
“Remember that if you are in a recession, what it means is that even though, your population is growing, people don’t stop procreating, your growth fact, which means that in theory depending on how they run those numbers, you will be going the other way. There is absolutely no question that there an urgency to create employment in Nigeria. And it has to be a collective responsibility. What I can tell you, with certainty based on ones background in business and economics, is that if we complete the things on infrastructure and you implement these reports we are doing, that is what I mean by a leading indicator, poverty will go down. There is no magic to it. But you have to do it first, you have put in the infrastructure, you have to implement the economic programme which is what will create the opportunities, they don’t drop from the sky.
“So, I think we should roll up our sleeves as a people and do the work because, if we don’t do it, our people continue to bear children obviously, they would get poorer. So, I don’t think we should kill ourselves that poverty is something just happen. I think it comes out of the urgent need we have as a country which is why we are focusing as a government to make sure that we create the enabling environment, the infrastructure that are required to create opportunities for our people and I believe that will happen in the process of time.”
Enelamah also disclosed that Nigeria was not in a hurry to sign the Continental Free Trade Agreement, as it was important for government to adequately deliberate on the deal before President Buhari gives the direction to go next.
The trade and industry minister also announced that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of world-class export-oriented economic zones in six geopolitical zones: Aba, Lagos, Katsina, Calabar and Kano as a total cost of N250 billion, through a limited liability company to be set up for the purpose.
Already, consultants to facilitate these zones are to be paid N2.65 billion for their work, which would also be for smaller but similar zones in Akwa Ibom, Makurdi, among others.
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The FEC directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to ensure stricter compliance with Presidential Executive Order 1, concerning ease of doing business in Nigeria; and to comply with 72-hour deadline for responding to public inquiries or complaints made through the online portal of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).
He said, “The ministry brought two memos. The first one is a memorandum that sought the council’s approval for effective implementation of Projects Made in Nigeria Exports, something called Project-MINE Initiative which is aimed at developing world class export oriented special economic zones across the six geo-political zones of council. And that memo was approved.
“That memo is anchored on creating the right enabling environment for special economic zones across the country. If you study other countries that industrialised rapidly, you will find out that one of things they did right was to have these special economic zones and industrial parks that are world class which means that all the infrastructure are there and all the requirements are in place. And the plan is to begin the development of those special economic zones across the six geo-political zones as follows:
“We are going to do one in Lagos State Lekki Free Trade Zone Area, one in Katsina in Funtau Cotton Cluster Zone Area and aother one in Abia in Enyimba City. We are also going to develop two world class standard the existing two zones that the government has in Calabar and Kano.
“And in addition, the council also approved pre-development work to start and develop Green Field Special Economic Zone in Akwa Ibom, in Benue and in Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Kwara and Sokoto state with a further roll out to other locations in phase two. As you know, there was budgetary allocations both in the 2017 and also in the 2018 budget.
“Specifically, council approved today payments to consultants totalling N2.655,785billion for various projects that would be undertaken by different consultants that would lead to the implementation of these zones.
“Actually, that is just for one set of consultant. The aggregate amount which includes another set is N3.172,431 billion. But the amount that has been invested in zones are much larger. The 2017 budget had over N40 bilion. The budget also has over N40 blllion in 2018. The total budget of developing these zones would be in excess of N250 billion and it will include partners. This is going to be done through something called The Nigerian Special Economic Zones Company Limited, which is a public private partnership.
“The Federal Government is going to own 20 percent of that company and AFRIEXIM bank is going to be a shareholder and other investors like the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority and other international investors. It is going to be developed in such a way that it will be world class. We are going to see rapid implementation now that council approval has been obtained.”
Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Shehuri, said FEC also approved contracts on roads and bridges.
Another approval by FEC was for the installation of insulator house for flight simulator at the premier aviation college in Zaria, Kaduna State, according to the Minister of State for Transportation, Aviation, Hadi Sirika.
He further announced the publication of 2018 seasonal rainfall prediction table by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), which accurately details rain forecast local government by local government in the country, such that eben farmers can benefit from it.
The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said FEC the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) computer based test center.
According to Shehu, “JAMB had ran their test for people who seek admission for Universities using computer based testing agencies. And this has been attended by leakages over time. And in order to stop that, JAMB has been able to set up their own infrastructure for conduction these examinations. They have realised that they have not sufficiently covered the grounds. They have requested for government to buy up one of the CBT test organisations for N133 million. They bought over the infrastructure, equipment and building. The effort is that JAMB wants to take total control of all of these examination processes in order to avoid leakages that had in the past attended their own examinations.”
