- FG Moves to Tap Private Capital for Projects
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udoma, has said the special implementation unit set up to ensure effective delivery of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan will run sector-focused style labs in agriculture and transportation, power and gas, and manufacturing and processing in the coming weeks.
Udoma said on Thursday in Minna, Niger State, at the 16th meeting of the National Council on Development Planning that the central objective of the labs would be to harness private capital to finance projects across the country.
He said in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Akpandem James, that the major thrust of the three-day conference was to work out effective ways of using the ERGP as a road map to achieve inclusive growth and build a resilient and competitive economy.
The minister stated, “To help us in running these labs, we have retained the PEMANDU, which was the Malaysian agency that spearheaded the transformation of the Malaysian economy using these labs. PEMANDU will act as consultants to support the members of our implementation unit.
“For each lab, we will assemble relevant stakeholders (in the public and private sectors) into unbroken weeks of intensive working sessions to brainstorm on practical steps to overcome identified challenges in the selected sector. We will be reaching out to all the states to participate in these labs.”
Udoma added that at the end of each lab, the participants would have developed very detailed implementation plans with identified funding support.
