By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Nigeria and the Federal Republic of Germany have agreed on a partnership aimed at advancing the economic development of the country.
Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba disclosed this at the signing of the agreed minutes of the Nigerian-German bilateral government consultations in Abuja on Friday.
Agba said that the consultation emanated from the extensive sectoral dialogues and exchanges between the delegates of both countries held on May 18, 2022.
According to him, “the deliberations were very constructive and focused on the general context of economic cooperation between both countries with particular support to Nigeria.
“I wish to extend the appreciation of Nigeria to the people and government of Germany for the unflinching support extended to Nigeria to advance our economic growth and development”.
The Minister also said that the national document could be used to competitively attract resources from development partners and the global community.
He pointed out that the plan addresses the attainment of set targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, African Union Agenda 2060, Climate Change, Greening the environment among others, adding that the plan focuses on seven clusters, namely: economic growth and development, infrastructure, public administration (public sector reform); human capital development.
Others he said included social development, regional development and plan implementation, communication, financing, monitoring and evaluation.
“The UN study forecasts that Nigeria’s population will hit over 400 million by 2050 and become the third most populous country in the world, behind India and China.
“This demographic report and the challenges of insecurity, high rate of unemployment especially among the youth, high incidence of poverty, huge infrastructure deficits, inefficient public service delivery and insufficient fiscal buffers faced by Nigeria are addressed in the National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2025.
“It is envisaged that during the plan period, relevant policies, projects and programmes which have been costed will be implemented to mitigate the various challenges, including undertaking necessary reforms and adopting appropriate technology for sustainable development,” Agba said.
the Minister further said, the Nigerian economy was hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to the shock prompted by it, the government undertook proactive short-term measures to limit the impact on the economy through the development of the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP).
“To consolidate on the gains of ESP, the NDP 2021-2025 set out a total investment commitment of N348.1 trillion made up of N49.7 trillion (14.3 percent) of government capital investment and N298.3 trillion (85.7 per cent) of private sector investment.
“Of the 14.3 percent government contribution, capital expenditure of the Federal Government is N29.6 trillion (8.5 percent), while the sub-national governments are estimated to commit about N20.1 trillion (5.8 percent),” he said
Agba said that the German government and other friendly development partners alike, are urged to support the Nigerian government in this regard.
He said the five priority areas comprise sustainable economic development, climate and energy, life without hunger and health.
Others are social protection and population policy, and crisis prevention and peacebuilding of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) 2030 Reform Strategy discussed during this consultative meeting aligns with the NDP 2021-2025.
“In this regard, I am glad to note that the following key outcomes constitute the major components of the Agreed Minutes to be signed today,”
He commended the German delegation led by Lars Wilke, head of department West Africa II, ministry of economic cooperation and development (BMZ) for the fruitful consultations. He also commended the Nigerian delegation for actively participating in the process leading to the overall success of this event.
Wilke on his part said that the framework of their cooperation with Nigeria was Nigeria’s economic recovery and Nigeria’s NDP 2021-2025.
