Stakeholders list grey areas in FG’s economic recovery plan

Eggheads at the Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State, have x-rayed the nation’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), urging government to jump-start the economy by providing the enabling environment and playing significant role through investments.

The stakeholders spoke at a seminar, where eminent scholars, economists, policy makers, government officials and the citizens took an in-depth sectoral analysis of the plan and determine if it has the capacity to take the country out of the woods and put it back on the right economic direction.

The Director General of West African Institute of Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Prof. Akpan Hogan Ekpo, noted that though the plan is laudable, there abound some grey areas that government needs to sort out if it is to be a success.It added that a period of four years, which the plan was meant to last is also not long enough to tackle many challenges facing the nation.

Prof Ekpo advised the Nigerian political elite to emulate the success story of Lee Kuan Yun of Singapore who at a point decided that enough was enough and that it was time to change their country for good.

Speaking on “Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security through the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, Prof. Ajuluchukwu Obi of the University of Fort Hare, South Africa noted that the country cannot achieve agricultural transformation without structural transformation.

The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Dr. Dennis Ekumankama, warned the Federal Government not to allow the plan to end up in shelves, wondering how government is going to raise the enormous money required for its implementation now that the revenue from crude oil has been depleted.

He therefore advised that government should rather pursue its economic diversification policy and also take another look at the report of the 2014 National Conference and implement its recommendations.

In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Chinedum Nwajiuba, stated that the seminar was part of the University’s contribution to the development of the country, adding that experts were invited to do a diagnostic review of the plan.