THE Federal Government, yesterday, shifted blames for the problem of
power in the country on the 30 years of military rule, just as it said
that planning was relegated to the background during the period.
Speaking when he presented his scorecard to the National Chairman of
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and other members
of the National Working Committee, NWC, Minister of National Planning
Commission, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman was pessimistic on achieving the set
goal of becoming one of the top 20 most developed economies by the year
2020.
Shamsuddeen Usman said: “During the military era planning was
relegated and for more than 30 years we neglected the power sector”.
The minister also disclosed that the National Integrated
Infrastructure Master Plan, NIMP, designed for the next 30 years will be
ready in July, even as he said 50 percent of the nation’s bilateral
agreements were presently not functioning as some of them were already
dead.
50% of bilateral agreement not functioning
He added that the Commission at the moment had reviewed 488 of such
agreements, noting that it was quite unfortunate that Nigerians were not
getting the full benefit of the signed agreements.
On Vision 2020, Shamsuddeen, who noted that Nigeria was number 44,
said if by 2020 the nation rises to number 25 he would be a proud man.
President Goodluck Jonathan
According to him, “Where were we in 2009? We were number 44. By the
end of 2011, we were number 39, by the end of 2012, we were in number
36, this is progress. We made quite a lot of progress. In other areas we
are not.
“I don’t want any of you to meet me in 2020 and say you are the one
telling us that we are going to be among the top 20. But what I am
saying is that even if we are not among the 20 by that time, we were
number 44 in 2009.
“If by 2020 we are number 25, I will be a very proud man. The reason
is because we are consciously moving and doing all the necessary things
to move up there”.
He added: “It’s not saying we must be there. What it’s saying is if
we get there then these are the actions we need to take as a country. We
must do this and that in governance, in human development, in
infrastructure. That is what the document is saying and we are actually
taking those steps”.
The minister explained that the Federal Government was on its way to
transforming the power sector as the telecom sector had already been
handled.
Explaining the challenges facing the Commission, Shamsuddeen,
however, lamented inadequate funding of programmes and projects as well
as capacity gaps in Ministries, Departments, Agencies, MDAs, due to high
turnover of staff, the pooling system and current subjective training
and performance measures.
Other challenges include “late feedback/communication from MDAs which
hinders prompt delivery of actions; many MDAs not using officials NBS
statistics; absence of strategic plans in some MDAs; inadequate
Information Technology hardware for MDAs networking; National Planning
and projects continuity Bill dormant in the National Assembly; absence
of a legal framework for the performance contracting system,” among
others.
Earlier, the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur said
through planning the party could navigate its manifesto and that
planning must go with implementation, adding that the idea behind the
interaction was for Nigerians to know that the PDP-led government was
doing the right thing, as Nigerians expect rehabilitation of
infrastructure.
Tukur who charged the minister on implementation, said, “besides this
presentation, I hope you connect with your colleagues on
implementation.”
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