THE NEEDS/SEEDS PROCESS IN NIGERIA BY PROF. ODE OJOWU,

1. THE NEEDS/SEEDS PROCESS IN NIGERIA BY PROF. ODE OJOWU, ECONOMIC ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF NATIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION AT THE WORKSHOP ON PROGRAMMING OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (NEEDS) HELD AT THE BOLINGO HOTELS, ABUJA FROM 7TH TO 10TH MARCH, 2005.

2. The NEEDS at a Glance GOALS Wealth Creation Employment Generation Poverty Reduction New Value System Changing the way government does its work Public Sector Reforms Privatization/Liberalization Governance, Transparency and Anti-Corruption Service Delivery Budget & Expenditure Reforms Promoting private enterprise Security & Rule of Law Infrastructure Finance Sectoral Strategies Privatization Trade, Regional Integration and Globalization Empowering people Health Education Integrated Rural Development Housing Development Employment & Youth Devt Safety Nets Gender and Geopolitical Balance Pension Reforms

3. Vision Statement • To build a truly great African democratic country, politically united, integrated and stable, economically prosperous, socially organized, with equal opportunity for all, and responsibility from all, to become the catalyst of (African) Renaissance, and making adequate all-embracing contributions, sub-regionally, regionally and globally

4. WHAT IS NEEDS? • NEEDS is a medium term development plan • Derived from the longer term goal of social and economic transformation of the economy into a modern, competitive and prosperous one. • NEEDS is set out to implement a set of policies and programmes to lay the foundation for a sustainable transformation. • Its emphasis is on rapid social and economic development of the Nigerian economy.

5. How do we achieve the goals of NEEDS? The stated goals of NEEDS can be achieved through the following: • A sound macroeconomic framework. • Changing the way government does its work. • Promoting private Enterprise • Empowering the people/human development agenda.

6. The macroeconomic framework The objectives of macro framework include: • macroeconomic stability and predictability of the macro environment; • fiscal sustainability; • competitive but stable real exchange rate regime; • external reserves target of at least 6 months import cover; • healthy balance of payment position; • growth rate of at least 5% per annum on the average in the medium term.

7. Changing the way government does its work. • THE PUBLIC SECTOR REFORMS: The essence is to restructure, right size, re-professionalize and strengthen government and public institutions • Deliver effective service to the people, eliminate waste, and inefficiency in order to free up resources for investment and infrastructure • Fight Against Corruption: Establishment of ICPC, EFCC; • ensuring greater transparency; • promotion of rule of law, and stricter enforcement of contracts. • Ensure prompt service delivery to the people and make government more development oriented

8. Promoting private enterprise • Private sector as the engine of growth. • Government to create the needed environment for private sector growth through; provision of and enhancement of the regulatory environment-security and the rule of law, infrastructure, finance, privatization and liberalization • Mobilization of long term capital for development. • A coherent and consistent trade policy that delivers on growth and poverty reduction; regional integration and globalization.

9. EMPOWERING THE PEOPLE-HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AGENDA • NEEDS is about people; their welfare, their health, education, employment , poverty reduction , empowerment and participation. • Improvement in agriculture – employment and poverty reduction among rural farmers, • Housing, water supply and integrated rural development • Youth development, geopolitical balance and pension reforms • SMEs for employment generation and increased output for domestic consumption and export. • Empowerment through giving voice to the weak, the vulnerable and the handicapped in the society through increased participation in decision making process and creation of safety nets. • Gender sensitivity in all aspects of our national development

10. The role of the Government as facilitator/catalyst • Mobilization of national resources to facilitate the development of strategic economic infrastructure that improves the general attractiveness of Nigeria as a preferred investment destination; • Strengthening the social, legal and regulatory regime to engender security of life and property, good governance, the rule of law and respect for the sanctity of contracts and rights of others as well as eliminate bottlenecks and “red tape”; • Creating greater opportunities for access to appropriate financial resources and strengthening and/or supporting other assistance initiatives, e.g. SMEDAN, SMIEIS, etc. aimed at improving efficiency and productivity, reducing production costs, nurturing entrepreneurship and enhancing the attractiveness of products, and SMEs in an intensely competitive market place;

11. The role of the Government as facilitator/catalyst • Adoption and implementation of a coherent and consistent trade policy regime, as well as an Action Plan on rapid and focused commercialization of results of viable scientific research that engender linkages and enhance productivity; • Progressive reduction of government’s direct role in economic and business activities. Specifically, the process of accelerated privatization of major utilities, liberalization, and deregulation of key sectors are being vigorously pursued, accompanied with appropriate competition and consumer protection policies;

12. The role of the Government as facilitator/catalyst • Implementation of the comprehensive Tax Reform Bill in order to ensure the elimination of multiple taxation and fiscal harassment and enforcing jurisdictions, improving collections and removing barriers to the growth of a virile private sector; • Holding regular dialogue with private sector operators and playing an active role in economic planning, based on market principles; and • Providing a robust fiscal and monetary policy regime for the smooth functioning of the economy; and adopting financing strategies that do not crowd out the private sector;

13. Implementation-The journey so far • The implementation of NEEDS commenced with 2004 budget. • Emphasis of 2004 Budget on the key sectors of Agriculture, Manufacturing, Education, Health, Water and Infrastructure (Electricity and Roads). • The enabling bills (about 15) in the National Assembly are receiving accelerated hearing, e.g, the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, the Procurement Reform Bill and the Energy Bill are at advanced stages of being passed into law. • The Priority Sectors accounted for over 60.0% of the 2004 Capital Budget. • More Investments Envisaged in 2005 Budget.

14. Implementation cont’d • Monetization Policy Implemented • Liberalization, Privatization and Deregulation of the Economy • Other Public Sector Reforms are being implemented.

15. Implementation cont’d • The development of a communication strategy- the success of NEEDS depend on how the people buy into it and these depends on how it is packaged to the ordinary Nigerian. • A coherent policy on communicating NEEDS is being worked out to ensure sustainability beyond the present Administration and to enable the people demand the desired changes that the strategy signifies. • Cultivating the press to identify with the core values and objectives of NEEDS and communicating same to the public . • A peer review mechanism and private- public partnership is key to the implementation of NEEDS.

16. LINKAGES BETWEEN NEEDS AND SEEDS • NEEDS and SEEDS are complementary- both are targeted at improving the overall socio-economic development of the people. • Both Federal and State Governments are collaborating to ensure achievement of the NEEDS objectives of wealth creation, poverty reduction, employment generation and private sector development.

17. FRAMEWORK FOR COORDINATION AMONG FEDERAL & STATE GOVERNMENTS • National Economic Council • National Council on Development Planning • Joint Planning Board.

18. SUPPORT BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO STATES ON SEEDS • The National Planning Commission with the support of development partners have provided technical assistance to the States in the preparation of their SEEDS • Provision of assistance for benchmarking of SEEDS by development partners. This is to ensure that government strategies to improve service delivery both in terms of quality and in terms of reach, is developed and implementable. • The benchmarks will seek to assess the implementation of SEEDS with particular reference to how increasingly the states are improving in their policy formulation and fiscal management, strengthening budgetary process, improving service delivery and strengthening communication and transparency/accountability. • Participation in SEEDS benchmarking is optional. • N25 billion earmarked for states that comply with the SEEDS benchmarking. • Enugu and Kwara States were used for the benchmarking pilot test. • Twenty two states covering six geo-political have already expressed willingness to Benchmark. This followed the review and refinement of the two benchmarked states. • There are indications that more states will join as the exercise progresses. • The National Planning Commission in collaboration with Development Partners have set April 2005 as tentative date for assessing the SEEDS.

19. SOME KEY OUTCOMES • Improved Overall Performance of the Economy – Real GDP Growth Rate of 5.5% in 2004. • External Reserves of $20.0 billion. • Improved Macroeconomic Stability. • Phenomenal Increase Teledensity from 1:125 in 1999 to 1:40 kin 2004. • Decline in the Incidence of HIV/AIDS from 5.8% to 5.0%. • Decline in Poverty level from about 70% reported in 1996 to 57.8% in 2004. • Greater Accountability in public expenditure. • More Efficient Use of Public Funds. • Greater Budgetary Predictability.

20. SOME CHALLENGES • RESOURCE GAPS. • WEAK CAPACITY ESPECIALLY AT THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEVELS. • LOW LEVEL OF INFRASTRUCTURE.

21. CONCLUSION • Governments of the Federation of Nigeria are committed to the implementation of the policy objectives embodied in the NEEDS/SEEDS document. • The implementation of NEEDS will put Nigeria on the path of economic growth and development. • All hands must be on deck