Following the approval of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan by the Federal Executive Council on Thursday, President Muhammadu Buhari has now designated his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to supervise the overall implementation of the N2.3Trn plan.

This is contained in a statement highlighting key components of the approved plan and released by the Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina in Abuja on Thursday.

According to the statement, “the Economic Sustainability Committee will monitor implementation of the Plan while the Vice President will regularly brief the President on progress made.”

The Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP), approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on June 24, 2020, was developed by the Economic Sustainability Committee (ESC), established by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 30, 2020.

Chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the ESC comprised several Cabinet Ministers as well as the Group Managing Director of the NNPC and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Still, on the implementation of the NESP, Adesina said inputs from stakeholders were integrated in the conception and design of the plan, noting that “the NESP was developed in consultation with Cabinet Ministers, Heads of Federal Agencies, the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), State Governors and the National Assembly.”

“The NESP has been developed as a 12-month, N2.3 trillion ‘Transit’ Plan between the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the successor plan to the ERGP, which is currently in development,” Adesina said in the statement.

On the funding streams for the plan, Adesina said: “the NESP will be funded as follows: N500 billion from Special FGN Accounts; N1.1 trillion from the CBN in the form of structured lending; N334 billion from external bilateral/multilateral sources; and N302.9 billion from other funding sources.”

On the design and implementation of the NESP, Adesina said it is driven by the principles of local content and self-reliance; economic stimulation; job preservation and creation; pro-poor/vulnerable focus.

Highlights of key interventions in the plan as contained in the statement are as follows:

MASS AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMME (MAP).
The Plan intends to ensure the cultivation of between 20,000 and 100,000 hectares of new farmland in every State, as well as support offtake and agro-processing, with low-interest credit. This will create millions of direct and indirect job opportunities.

Source: VanguardNGR