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FEC okays framework for 2020 economic target

PLANS by the Federal Government to place Nigeria among the top 20 global economies by year 2020 were scrutinised by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) Tuesday, January 9th 2007.

The framework, when finalised, will be launched by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua next January and his economic team mandated to execute it.

The Council also approved N70 billion as loans for textile companies for the reactivation of the moribund sector.

The federal cabinet also ratified N7 billion anticipatory approval earlier given by the President for the execution of a N2 billion micro-credit and N5 billion fund transfer for the eradication of poverty in Nigeria. The fund will be administered by the National Programme for the Eradication of Poverty (NAPEP).

Similarly, the Council endorsed a multi-sector committee for the implementation of the initiative under the African Peer Review Mechanism. Members of the committee include the federal, state governments and corporate bodies.

Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. John Odey, who briefed journalists after the council's meeting alongside the Minister of State, Ibrahim Nakande, Minister of National Planning, Sanusi Daggash and the National Co-ordinator of NAPEP, Prof. Magnus Kpakor, said that the N70 billion Textile Reactivation Fund would be given to the affected firms at a "single-digit lending rate."

Odey said after the meeting, which lasted for over eight hours and presided over by President Yar'Adua, that "the Nigerian Export/Import Bank (NEXIM) would liaise with a leading bank to lend funds to the beneficiary companies. NEXIM will however negotiate the rate, which will be more than nine per cent."

On his part, Daggash said that the proposed policy on the 2020 economic growth target would give timelines to the development of the final document, which would be ready by the end of this year.

The final document, he said, would be launched January 2009 by the President.

The 2020 vision, which will have the three arms of the Federal Government, the states and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as major stakeholders, will consists of two main committees - Technical and National Steering.

According to Daggash, "the President's Economic Management Team (ETM) will be the think-tank. The Council, he added, endorsed and asked the team to make proposals towards its implementation.

Kpakor explained: "The N7 billion fund for NAPEP is part of leveraging the country's resources to fight poverty. The fund is from savings from the debt relief granted Nigeria."

He also stated that later in the year, Yar'Adua would launch a Village Economic Development Programme that would herald a community-based approach to poverty alleviation. The N2 billion to be spent on it, he said, would be in form of grants. At the end of 12 months, the beneficiaries, he said, would get a fund for setting up businesses. This initiative would make sure that no Nigerian is left behind", he added.

The pilot scheme will begin in 12 states with the beneficiary states providing matching funds for both the micro-credit and the fund transfer scheme, Kpakor explained.