Economic Sustainability Plan

Nigeria’s prompt exit from recession is a key indicator of the success of the ongoing Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) approved by the Federal Government, the Presidency has said in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

The Minister of state for Budget and National Planning, Mr Ikanade Agba, says the Federal Government is currently working on 377 roads in 266 rural communities across the country.

The federal government has expressed its readiness to support more massive investments in the Centre of Excellence to boost its economic potential as one of the world’s fastest growing mega cities.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called on Nigerians to resist any attempt to divide the nation saying Nigeria is better as one indivisible entity.

The N-Power, cash-for-work programme, inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 with 500,000 of direct beneficiaries, is spread across the key industries targeted by the programme – Agriculture, Health, Education, and Tax.

The Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority in a bid to assist the Federal Government scale up its Covid-19 response has formally handed over 126 units of Patient Monitors and 63 units of Oxygen Concentrators to 21 healthcare institutions across the six geopolitical zones of the country.

"Under the plan, 200,000 beneficiaries will be engaged as financial services operators under a Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF) scheme operated by the Central Bank of Nigeria; over 30,000 have already been engaged as geospatial experts and enumerators in the Economic Sustainability Plan’s Mass Agric programme, while several others will have the option of benefiting from the GEEP micro-enterprise loans," a statement details.

Beneficiaries of the N-Power initiative who have concluded the two-year job programme will now be able to access permanent job opportunities or business prospects in line with the N-power exit strategy now activated by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Mr. Osibanjo flagged off the administration’s Economic Sustainability Plan’s (ESP) in Abuja on Tuesday, saying the cash transfer scheme will be facilitated through a wholly technology-based approach called the Rapid Response Register (RRR).

Just as global technology giants including Google Inc., HUAWEI, and top social networking company, Facebook, another international tech heavyweight, Microsoft Corporation, has disclosed plans to partner with the Federal Government for the benefit of the Nigerian people, especially young people.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja received Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who updated him on the progress so far in the implementation of the Economic Sustainability Plan.

The Federal Government, yesterday, said that the economic and social implications may make it difficult for it to impose another lock-down in the country.

From just two National Reference Laboratories, Nigeria now has over 100 public and private laboratories across all the states for the testing of COVID-19.

The Federal Government says its 774,000 Special Public Works (SPW) jobs will commence on Wednesday.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who disclosed this at a media briefing on Monday in Lagos, said centres were also built in collaboration with states and the private sector to isolate and treat cases of COVID-19.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has secured the pledge from cement manufacturers in the country to offer discount on the commodity for the Federal Government’s Social Housing Scheme.

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) not to provide foreign exchange for the importation of food items.

Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, in a statement, said Buhari gave the assurance at the fifth regular meeting with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council held on Tuesday at the State House, Abuja.

With the kind of impact and interest already generated among Nigerians by the ongoing implementation of the Survival Fund under the Economic Sustainability Plan, there is now a need to expand the scope and reach of the benefits to an even larger number of the populace, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Worsening oil revenues and the COVID-19 pandemic have combined to accentuate the need for Nigeria to diversify its economy.

I felicitate with our Christian brothers and sisters in particular and all Nigerians in general on this joyous occasion of Christmas 2020, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Federal government yesterday unveiled a prototype of its Mass Housing Scheme at Model House, Dei Dei, FCT, Abuja.