Saturday 20 April 2024

Executive Summary of the Strategic Plan (2024-2028) by the Fed. Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs

The socio-economic challenges of low and fragile economic growth, insecurity, weak institutions, insufficient public service delivery, notable infrastructure deficits, climate change and weak social indicators that the present administration is seeking to address were occasioned by sub-optimal performance of the Nation's economy for nearly a decade. First, in 2016 Nigeria's socio-economic growth was badly affected by unprecedented shocks in terms of trade, reduced oil production and prices among other things which resulted in economic recession. The country's recovery from the recession between 2017-2019, which was facilitated by the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), was however truncated when the coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic in 2020 hit, coupled with yet another spate of falls in crude oil prices and social conflicts. A set of fiscal and monetary stimulus packages implemented under the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) contributed to the country's exit from the COVID-19-induced recession in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2025, was developed to succeed the ESP and to put Nigeria back on a sustained path of economic growth. The NDP aimed to implement major infrastructure and other development projects across the six geopolitical zones and to open up opportunities for the rural areas to ensure balanced development and increased competitiveness.

A little over one year after the launch of the NDP, the present administration was inaugurated, thereby inheriting the myriad of challenges that the NDP sought to address. The Renewed Hope Agenda was therefore developed to build on the trajectory outlined in the NDP and the Nigeria Agenda 2050. The Renewed Hope Agenda is anchored on four pillars (Improved Livelihood, Economic Outcomes, Harnessing Human Resources, and Fairer & Safer Playing Field), which are broken down into eight (8) priority areas (Food Security, Ending Poverty, Economic Growth and Job Creation, Access to Capital, Inclusivity, Security, Fairness and Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Stance).

This Strategic Plan is developed by the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Inter[1]Governmental Affairs (FMSDIGA) to reposition and align its activities towards the Renewed Hope Agenda of this administration as the mantra of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR for the path to national growth and development that will lead to the desired collective prosperity of Nigeria.

The FMSDIGA is among the three (3) Federal Ministries that have been saddled with the responsibility to contribute to the implementation of the eight (8) priority areas of the Renewed Hope Agenda. This five (5) year Strategic Plan (2024-2028) provides the Ministry's roadmap towards catalyzing the realization of the Renewed Hope Agenda.

 The Plan was developed through the active participation of all stakeholders in the Ministry. It is arranged sequentially into the four (4) Strategic Pillars and eight (8) Priority Areas with eight (8) goals, thirteen (13) Strategic Objectives and thirteen (13) Interventions as well as eighty-two (82) Key Activities.

The total estimated cost of the Plan of ₦178.9 billion is the aggregate of the costs of all the key activities to be carried out by the Departments, Agencies and Parastatals of the Ministry on an annual basis for the next five-year period. The plan also shows estimated cost distributions according to Strategic Pillars, Priority Areas, Implementing Entities, and based on Programme/Project Areas.

The funding gap of the Plan was estimated to be about fifty-four per cent (54%), which reflects a significant fiscal constraint to its effective implementation. Additional resource mobilisation is necessary through advocacy to increase the Government's annual budget allocation as well as increased revenue generation. Engagement with development partners, and private and informal sectors would also be important in augmenting the funding gap.

A steering committee will be established to oversee the effective implementation of the Plan. This committee will be chaired by the Honourable Minister of Special Duties and Inter[1]Governmental Affairs and will comprise representatives from departments and agencies of the Ministry, and other relevant Ministries (Finance, Budget and National Plan, Health, Education, Water Resources, and Environment etc), development partners, civil society and community organisations, and other relevant stakeholders.

The implementation of this Plan will be supported with a robust monitoring and evaluation mechanism, which will help to track progress and facilitate course correction. Implementation progress will be tracked using the key results framework that has been developed for this Plan, which captures high-level performance indicators for each of the priority areas and key activities.

Overall, this Plan should be implemented through the Annual Operational Plan for each year, which is expected to guide budgeting and performance tracking towards catalysing the realization of the Renewed Hope Agenda.

Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs

Abuja

Wednesday 17 April 2024

Stop hiding behind dollar and oil! Shun profiteering!

Thank you to our dear 'Mai kudi', 'Mai arziki', 'Mai jama'a' - Aliko Dangote. He has used his game-changer outfit - Dangote Petroleum Refinery - to progressively crash the price of diesel from N1,600 per litre to N1,200 per litre about three weeks ago, to N1,000 per litre yesterday. On behalf of industries and consumers, thank you very much. Not yet Uhuru though!

Before now, big players like Dangote and BUA had recently crashed the price of cement, which sold as high as N15,000 per 50kg bag in January 2024, to between N7,000 and N8,000 now, depending on the brand, location, and other factors. 

Considering the above and other recent improvements such as Naira appreciation, thank God for responsible and responsive business leadership. Thank God for the imaginary hand of the #FGN. There's however more room for improvement!

You keep asking why government after government in #Nigeria have always favoured Aliko Dangote in a big way but you never ask yourself what you do with your little space in your little corner. You keep wondering how God has been blessing and increasingly blessing Dangote but you never wonder about kingdom principles concerning being good and faithful or being wicked and slothful over a few things.

While Dangote has crashed the price of diesel and has led others to crash the price of cement, you in your little corner are still hanging on to your high old prices even though your #dollar #forex rate justification has seriously gone down. You often forget that enormous profit, by hook or by crook, may bring you wealth but it may not sustain your business or bring you blessing.

Each time your costs of production increase, you immediately increase the prices of your products / services and transfer the burden to consumers. But, whenever those costs come down, you either refuse to bring down your prices or drag your feet to do the needful. You shrug your shoulders when you hear consumers sadly saying "Whatever goes up in Nigeria doesn't come down." It's not so in consumer-centric economies. It's not supposed to be so in our economy. And, in all fairness, it's not the practice by all private companies delivering products or services in Nigeria. One of those God-fearing business outfits that have been operating with transparency and integrity particularly in the oil and gas sector is BOVAS Group. Many of their customers have testified to the image the company has built for itself. It has received many awards of excellent service. In 2018, the then Group Managing Director of the #NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Kachalla Baru (RIP), applauded BOVAS Group for transparency, integrity, reliable service delivery, and consistent selling of petroleum products at the official price.

We hereby challenge and encourage individual business operators and corporate organizations to begin to do great positive things not only for themselves but also for the people and the society at large. God bless you as you do. #ShunProfiteering

Bolaji Oladejo.

Wednesday 10 April 2024

Onyema is doing yeoman's job with his Air Peace

Onyema is doing yeoman's job with his Air Peace. See how he and his airline recently crashed air fares. Other international airlines have been hiding behind dollarization and high price of dollar to allow their fares go skyrocketing. They posited that lower fares were not possible in Nigeria in the prevailing economic circumstances, but Allen Onyema does not share that extreme profiteering strategy. Those airlines have now been forced to do what they had claimed was not possible by bringing down their fares substantially. Salute to the leadership support of Mr. President @officialABAT, Hon. Minister of Aviation, Hon. Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment, Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other relevant government functionaries.

Allen Onyema's feat in #aviation industry reminds us of the patriotic and strategic move by Mike Adenuga around August 2003 when his Globacom entered the #telecom market with 'per- second billing', crashed SIM card to rock-bottom price, and began to rule their world with submarine cables from United Kingdom to Nigeria. Existing telecom giants including MTN that have been going to town with federal legislators' backing with songs that "per-second billing is not realistic in Nigeria" and "low SIM card prices are not yet possible" were forced to fall in line. Yet, they never ran at loss. I recall that MTN officially reported breaking even in Nigeria within the first few years of operation as against their target of 10 years. The era preceding the per-second billing system was such a goldmine non-existent in South Africa or elsewhere that millions of Nigerians would make calls, say, for 1 minute 1 second (61 sec.) and they would be charged for 2 minutes (120 sec.).

Before we go back to the airline issue, it is pertinent to digress a little more and make the point here that Nigerians are seriously yearning for serious entrepreneurs who, with necessary executive and legislative supports, will introduce and force Multichoice (DSTV and GoTV), Startimes, and others to adopt pay-per-view billing system as it obtains in other economies.

Let's come back to our airline matter. Now that the airlines that were previously charging exorbitantly high fares have decided to reduce their fares and their home government authorities are deploying stifling anti-competition strategies, Air Peace and other interested airlines must not be allowed to die. We want to believe that the rule and the end game of fair global business is shared prosperity for a fairer and more peaceful world. All necessary government-to-government (G2G) and government-to-business (G2B) interventions must continue to be deployed towards achieving mutually-beneficial and win-win environments of international business in aviation and all other sectors. God bless #Nigeria. God bless international community: #WTO #GATT #MIGA #UNCTAD #UNIDO
Bolaji Oladejo

Tuesday 9 April 2024

AEDC Customers: Want to Know Your Electricity Meter Band Classification?

Do you want to know your electricity meter band classification as an AEDC customer?

It's very simple and immediate. Just a few steps:

(1.) Click on the link below or Copy the link and paste it in your web browser

(2.) Select Meter Number (or Account Number) 

(3.) Enter Meter Number (or Account Number) 

Voila! Your band classification will be displayed.

Here you go:

https://infocheck.abujaelectricity.com/