2018 Economic Summit to Focus on Good Governance to Boost ERGP Implementation

By James Emejo in Abuja

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Tuesday disclosed that the theme for the 24th edition of the annual Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#24) will focus on “Poverty to Prosperity: Making Governance and Institutions Work”.

The summit, scheduled to hold between October 22 and 23, 2018 in Abuja, will be structured along five thematic areas including corruption and rule of law; effective public institutions; sustainable economic opportunities; human development as well as participation and citizens’ rights.

He said the choice of the topic followed the realisation that good governance is a path to sustainable human and economic development in order to achieve the goals of government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

Speaking at a press briefing to herald the summit, the minister noted that the execution priorities of ERGP are underpinned by a focus on governance and delivery as the plan identifies good governance as critical to realising its objective.

He said opportunity will be provided for registered start-ups ‎to seek funds from potential investors at the summit.

According to him, the summit will strive to underscore the link between good governance and economic growth and development as set out in the ERGP and highlight the current state of governance and the challenges in delivering public services to the citizens so as to identify ways to overcome the challenges.

He said government has also taken steps towards “moving our people from poverty to prosperity”, adding that one of the key priorities of the ERGP is investing in people.

He said:”That objective has been behind many government programmes, particularly the social intervention programme, where millions of youths, women and children had been empowered.”

He said though there’s still more work to be done by the present administration to make the desired impact on the lives of Nigerians, government remained committed to sustained implementation of policies geared towards good governance and strengthening of institutions for the realisation of the objectives of ERGP.

However, the minister said the summit had helped in providing for dialogue on issues limiting national development as well as proffering solutions.

He said recommendations from the summit had also assisted government in the formulation of policies and decisions.

Udoma said the ultimate objective of this year’s event was to “stimulate discussions on accelerating implementation of ERGP strategies on good governance in order to enhance the social welfare of the Nigerian people”.

However, in a marked departure of the usual practice whereby the summit runs for a whole week, Chairman, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mr. Kyari Bukar, pointed out that the 2018 edition will last just two days as time is of essence.