THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY GROWTH PLAN [ERGP 2017-2020], IS PANACEA FOR RECESSION!

The All Progressives Congress [APC's], manifesto was very unambiguous in respect of being populist in orientation and had, in almost "TWO YEARS OF SLOW AND STEADY PROGRESS", been very consistent in its programmes of supporting the very poor and the needy in the Nigerian communities! At a recently concluded job interview of applicants for vacancies at the Nigerian Railway Corporation [NRC], which took place at the Iddo Terminus Lagos Headquarters, and at which event, TWO APPLICANTS FAINTED, a disoriented, disparaged, and discomfited youth blamed the entire shoddy arrangement which kept them in the heat of the sun and in queue for hours on end for the unfortunate incident. In an Press interview, he regretted that in all of his adolescent/adult academic life, Nigeria was consistently referred to as a "DEVELOPING NATION", and wondered whether it would ever mature to the global status of acceptable international standards in the true sense of holistic DEVELOPMENT. A fully-developed nation would bask in an all-round food/energy security and sufficiency, science/information/communication technology, internal/external defence of territorial waters and designated national airspace!

The job interview for the selection of only 300 workers attracted over 2,500 applicants and it was by God's grace that life was not lost - unlike what obtained in some Stadia across Nigeria during the botched Nigerian Immigration Services [NIS], recruitment in which over 12 applicants - including a pregnant woman, unfortunately lost their lives in 2014! The ERGP is not a strange document to most adult Nigerians because before its launch by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday, 5th April, 2017, similar economic plan documents which never saw the light of the day, were inaugurated with much fanfare and grandeur by past unfaithful administrations - the most important being the, National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy [NEEDS], document of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration which gulped millions of naira of tax-payers money in 2004! If that document were to have been religiously and diligently implemented, Nigeria’s economy would not have been in shambles at the disgraceful exit of the Peoples Democratic Party Administration in 2015, and there would have been no need for the present one which was already in full implementation even before that historic launch by a faithful government that has empathy of the downtrodden! ERGP is part of efforts by the Change Government to sustain and build on the successes so far recorded in tackling corruption, improving security and revamping the economy for the good of the common masses who always resiliently provided the WORKFORCE as “hewers of the wood and drawers of the water!"

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEEDS DOCUNENT.
According to the National Planning Commission of the Obasanjo's Administration, NEEDS was a response to development challenges of social, political, and economic decay in Nigeria and efforts mustered to lay a solid foundation for sustainable poverty-reduction, employment generation, wealth-creation and value reorientation, which in 1999, most people grossly underestimated! The goal of NEEDS was to mobilize the resources of Nigeria to make a fundamental break with the failures of the past and "BEQUEATH A UNITED AND PROSPEROUS NATION TO GENERATIONS TO COME." The Document gathered dust in the shelves till the PDP Administrations were jettisoned by the ELECTORATE in May 2015!

WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY!
Since the advent of the Change Mantra Administration, President Buhari left no one in doubt about the direction in which he was headed and in over 22 months since 29th May, 2015, he and his TEAM had demonstrated an unusual will-power in the face of multi-faceted economic challenges deliberately caused by past wicked leaders through massive corruption and the looting of the national treasury to ground zero! It very instructive to know that without a very rigid internal/external security measures put in place to ensure safety of the citizens, no meaningful economic progress would be achieved by any nation. When the present administration came on board, the Boko Haram insurgency was at its highest peak with 14 Local Government Areas of Bornu North East State, firmly in the hands of the terrorists while the failed PDP Government of ex-President Ebele Jonathan, wined and dined with funds appropriated to cater for the purchase of arms and ammunitions to prosecute the war, through the office of the National Security Adviser [NSA], a development which gave vent for a frontal elimination of insecurity at all cost!
That the divinely-anointed President and Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces wasted no time to engage and destroy the enclaves of the terrorists through superior fire power and a most unsual ingenuity in arsenal deployment - especially in the dense Sambisa Forest, is left for Historians to document for posterity! When the Niger Delta pipeline vandals and terrorists were also instigated to destroy what was left of the ruined economy by the same losers, there was a divine intervention which forced the remnants who survived the Federal might to surrender and opted for dialogue! The following very glaring achievements geared towards the revival and revamping of the bastardized economy, the various palliatives to succour, the unemployed in the various cadres of the society, workers, school children/students of higher institutions, market women, civil servants etc have been acclaimed by economic analyst as manifesting good results in alleviating the pains of the suffering masses.
1. Going by official statistics over 500.000, unemployed graduates from Nigeria's tertiary institutions have benefitted from the SOCIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES [SIP], in areas of employment/training opportunities through which they earn a monthly stipend of N30.000 naira in a two-year grooming which would eventually impart them with necessary ENTREPRENUERSHIP SKILLS needed for the economic survival of the nation.
2. Conditional CASH TRANSFERS of N5.000 naira to 25 million poorest Nigerians is progressing steadily from State to State without discrimination.
3. With the promise by the Federal Government to negotiate an AMNESTY PROGRAMME with the Niger Delta Region pipeline vandals and also the introduction of MODULAR REFINERY concept to eliminate the mushroom crude-oil bunkering/refining methods which had taken unprecedented dimension among the Youths, militancy nosedived and a relative peace has allowed for a substantial increase in oil production output from 1.5 million to about 2.5million barrels per day to further support gains from the AGRICULTURAL AND SOLID MINERAL RESOURCES SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY!
4. Funds have been injected into the INDUSTRIAL/MANUFACTURING SECTORS to allow for MADE-IN-NIGERIA PRODUCTS to flood Nigerian markets and to discourage further importation of foreign goods into the country etc.

WHAT ERGP STANDS FOR!
In a very expository treatise by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr 'Femi Adesina, before the launch date, Nigerians were told that the vision of ERGP was one of sustained inclusive growth which a nation needed to drive a structural economic transformation with emphasis on improving both public and private sector efficiency. He also provided the following salient reasons for an urgent but steady implementation of the laudable Plan. That the Medium Term ERGP, which has amongst its broad strategic objectives, restoration of sustainable, accelerated inclusive growth and development; investing in the people and building a globally competitive economy is also aimed at increasing national productivity to achieve sustainable diversification of production, significantly grow the economy and achieve maximum welfare of the citizens beginning with FOOD AND ENERGY SECURITY! The Plan is a pointer to the type of Nigerian that the people desire in the short to medium-term and encourages the use of science, technology and innovation to drive growth, promote national cohesion and social inclusion in which Nigerians are the ultimate beneficiaries of more inclusive growth which is rooted in the core values that define the Nigerian Society as enshrined in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, notably, discipline, integrity, dignity of labour, social justice, religious tolerance, self reliance and patriotism and requires all citizens and stakeholders to adhere to these principles. ERGP Document must be taken over by the National Orientation Agency of the Federal Government for incisive grassroots understanding through dissemination of its content by well-trained officials, to the 36 States and the 774 Local Government Areas, so that there would be an avenue to monitor the level of implementation by government and to also require accountability as at when due. The required cooperation by the citizens would equally be ensured if State Governments were also carried along.

ARE THE LAUDABLE PRINCIPLES OF ERGP NOT GLOBALLY COMPLIANT TO THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS [SDGs]?
Of course, they are! The unusual Type C Cerebral Spinal Meningitis [CSM], epidemic which ravaged at least 16 States of the Nigerian State recently was put under control through emergency measures of the present administration without much fuse because one of the 14-point ERGP agenda already had an adequate BLUEPRINT to succour the situation, just like Agenda 3 of the 17-point SDGs, which enjoined all 193-member states, to ensure GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING of all their citizens. The SDGs which is an offshoot of the 8-point agenda of the Millenium Development Goals [MDGs], which the previous Nigerian administration poorly executed, is another progressive initiative of the United Nations adopted by member states on 25th September, 2015, to end poverty, protect the planet and endure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development goals.


I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066 g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.