Buhari: Next Four Years Will Drive Economic Growth, Enhance Efficiency

Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday promised that his administration would evolve policies that would foster economic growth, drive industrialisation and enhance efficiency.

The president made the pledge while delivering his closing remarks at the end of a two-day presidential policy dialogue session, which lasted for over seven hours and was attended by governors, policy experts, members of the private sector and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, who was one of the speakers.

The president said his administration in the next four years would explore deliberations at the meeting to develop policies aimed at stimulating significant investments that would industrialise the agriculture sector, facilitate private sector participation in infrastructure development, unlock growth potentials in the petroleum sector and improve ease of doing business.

He added that such policies would facilitate construction of mass and affordable housing that would foster economic growth and reduce housing deficit and provide incentives for investors, especially in agriculture and power sectors.
According to him, the government will fix the power sector, address security challenges, launch consumer credit scheme to encourage citizens’ access to long-term mortgages and consumer credit.

He said: “As we come to the end of this Presidential Policy Dialogue Session, the key proposals made by the experts are for the federal government to consider the following strategic initiatives over the next four years:
“Stimulate significant investments in the industrialisation of agriculture; develop policies that will facilitate private sector participation in infrastructure projects;

Introduce policies and regulatory changes that will unlock growth potentials in the petroleum sector – both upstream and downstream;

“Aggressively improve the ease of doing business by reducing bureaucracy and improving inter agency collaboration; provide incentives for investors, especially in agriculture and power sectors; facilitate construction of mass and affordable housing to propel economic growth and reduce the massive housing deficit; launch of a consumer credit scheme with the banking sector for citizens to have access to long term and affordable mortgages and consumer credit;

“Address our security challenges by working in collaboration with the private sector; fix the power sector by addressing some of the regulatory uncertainties and operational shortcomings of the key players; drive efficiency in public service delivery through realignment of the Ministries, Departments & Agencies (MDAs) and implementation of e-governance solutions;

“As you are aware, some of my ministerial nominees are currently undergoing their screening at the National Assembly. God willing, the proposals from this session will be discussed and finalised with them in the coming weeks as they take on their portfolios.

“Although most of the proposals were targeted at the federal government, I also want to remind the state governors to do their part, especially in the areas of education and health care, which are within their constitutional responsibilities.”