Bill Gate,
the Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, yesterday faulted the
Federal Government’s Economic Recovery And Growth Plan (ERGP).
Addressing
stakeholders at the special session of the National Economic Council
(NEC)
meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the Presidential
Villa, Abuja, Gates stressed the need for the President Muhammadu Buhari-led
administration to take a second look at the National Economic Plan in terms of
its priorities for human capacity development.
He said the
ERGP, which must reflect the people’s needs, should also give priority to human
capital development over physical capital as it is designed currently.
“To anchor
the economy over the long term, investment in infrastructure and
competitiveness must go hand in hand with investments in the people.
“People
without roads, ports and factories can’t flourish. And roads, ports and
factories without skilled workers to build and manage them can’t sustain an
economy,” Gates noted.
According to
him, if the current trends in education and health continue and government
spends the same amount with the same results, there will be no economic growth
as the country will only be keeping with increase in population without
improvement in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said his
foundation had so far committed over $1.6 billion in Nigeria and was willing to
invest more towards making the country a global economic powerhouse that can
provide opportunity for all its citizens.
The funds,
according to the philanthropist, are committed to addressing issues of improved
primary healthcare systems, agriculture, financial inclusion, routine
immunisation and financial inclusion, among others.
Gates noted
that, although Nigeria was approaching an upper middle-income status like
Brazil, China and Mexico, there was the need for all its citizens to thrive in
maximizing the huge potential of the country.
He lamented
that Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to give birth,
with the fourth worst maternal mortality rate ahead of only Sierra Leone,
Central African Republic and Chad.
The Chairman
of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote told the NEC that there was the need for the
private sector companies in Nigeria to set aside one per cent of their annual
profit to support primary health care development and other critical projects
that will grow the economy.
“Since the
rebasing of the economy, Nigeria is no longer seen as a highly poor country.
Nigeria is going to be 411 million people by 2050. Today, more than half of our
population is very young and we should try to educate them and ensure that they
are healthy,” he said.
Vice
President Osinbajo, however, noted that high oil prices and economic growth of
the previous years did not translate into a better life for most Nigerians
because grand corruption prevented investments in healthcare, education and
infrastructure.
“To put
Nigeria’s money to work for Nigerians, is doing the most with the least. And we
have stayed true to that vision. Even as oil prices went into free fall, we
ramped up investments in infrastructure as well as our social spending,” he
said.
Osinbajo
told the gathering that the government was prepared to take head-on the
challenges which Dangote Foundation as well as Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation had outlined .
He noted
that Nigeria has strong economic growth and development ambitions, encapsulated
in her Economic Recovery and Growth Plan that was launched in 2017, but all of
those lofty ambitions can only be achieved through the determined application
of human skills and effort.
“And for
that effort to be meaningful and productive, it has to come from people who are
healthy, educated, and who are, and feel empowered.
“It is this
realisation that has helped ensure that one of the primary planks of the ERGP
is ‘Investing in our people’.
And it is
for this reason that we are expanding the reach and quality of our healthcare,
through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). We are working to
guarantee basic education for all persons, whilst also upgrading and
modernising the quality of secondary and post-secondary education.
“Because
this is the 21st century, we know that it is also important to ensure that our
young people are prepared for the economies of the future, not the past. This
means that STEM education is critical, and that technology must lie at the
heart of every one of our educational offerings,” the vice president said.
Fielding
questions after the session, Dangote said: “We have had a very good meeting and
one of the things we suggested that will ensure we fund our health sector very
well is for the private sector to give one percent of their annual profit.
“That will
actually help in raising quite a lot of money because since the rebasing of the
economy, we are going to get out of most of these donations we are getting from
Global Alliance for Vaccines (GAV), World Bank and the rest of the donors,
putting Nigeria as a rich country and not a poor country anymore.
“Nigeria
will be almost number three by 2050 in the World’s population. So we have to
make sure that we have a very healthy society,” he said.
Governor of
Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, said it was not the question of adjusting the
ERGP but the budgeting system, with priorities set out clearly to address human
capital development issues.
He said what
Gates and Dangote told the NEC members was that government at all levels also
needed to do more.
El-Rufai
described yesterday’s NEC as the most important held since the government of
Muhammadu Buhari came into power.
He said the
economic council had been focusing on the provision of electricity, roads and
others without priority for human capital development.
“There is
something more important than physical infrastructure like roads, water and
electricity, which is investing in the people.”.
According to
Governor El-Rufai Nigeria’s investment in education is far low, which is not
appropriate.
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