Nasir el-Rufai, governor of
Kaduna state, says it is incorrect to say the execution process of the economic
and recovery growth plan (ERGP) does not truly reflect the needs of Nigerians.
He said this in response to a
statement made by Bill Gates at the expanded national economic council presided
over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
“The Nigerian government’s
economic recovery and growth plan identify investing in our people as one of
three strategic objectives. But the execution priorities don’t fully reflect
people’s needs, prioritising physical capital over human capital,” Gates had
said.
He said this priority would lead
to a “sharp limit on how much the country can grow”.
Reacting to Gates’ comment,
el-Rufai, who was among the governors at the meeting where Gates spoke, said
the ERGP has enough provision for human capital.
He said what is needed is not an
adjustment of the ERGP but for state governments to adopt similar plans.
“On the review of ERGP as
suggested by Gates, it is not correct to say that the economic recovery and
growth plan does not give primacy to human capital, it is not correct,”
el-Rufai said.
“The economic recovery and growth
plan has enough provision for human capital, it is a federal government plan,
what is needed is for states to have similar plans as well as adequate
provisions for healthcare and education.
“Because the bulk of the burden
for healthcare and education really rests on states governments. The disease
burden of the country is largely at the primary healthcare level and this
primary healthcare system is broken completely, we need to rebuild it.
“It is the responsibility of the
states rather than the federal government. The federal government incentifies
with funding, grants and aids. But essentially, routine immunization, primary
healthcare, is the responsibility of the states.
“So it is not gaps in the ERGP
that we are looking at, it is appealing to states governments to provide more
money in basic education, primary healthcare. It is not the ERGP that needs
adjustments, it is the budgeting that needs to be ramped up in these two key
areas because these are where the problems are.
“If a child losses equality
education, he is done for life. If a child doesn’t get quality healthcare in
the first two years, he is destroyed for life. This is the message that we
invest more at the lower level, so that we prevent this disaster from
happening.”
The ERGP is a medium-term
document launched by President Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2017 to
restore the nation’s economic status after it was hit by its worst recession in
29 years.
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Whatever you say doesn't change the fact. You know what? It will take you one or more years to understand Bill Gates advice.
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