By Meletus EZE
The Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation has said that the economic focus of the All Progressives Congress-led (APC) Federal Government is built around a plan known as the Economy Recovery and Growth Plan.
According to the organisation`s 2019 election campaign manual, the objective of the plan is to restore economic growth, build a globally competitive economy and invest in Nigerians by driving social inclusion and youth empowerment.
It said it was also to improve human capital development in the country.
The organisation added that to achieve the objectives of the plan, the Federal Government had prioritised five steps which include stabilising the macroeconomic environment, achieving agriculture and food security and ensuring energy sufficiency.
It said improving transportation infrastructure and driving industrialisation by focusing on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) was also part of steps to achieve the plan.
It noted that for the first time in Nigeria`s recent history, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had achieved about 30 per cent of budgetary allocation to the provision of basic infrastructure and capital projects.
This, it said, was a sharp contrast to previous average of 10 per cent allocation to infrastructure and capital projects in past administrations.
“In this regard, a whopping sum of N2. 7 trillion, consisting of about N1.2 trillion in 2016 and N1.5 trillion in 2017 were released for infrastructure and capital projects.
“This sum is the highest so far in the history of Nigeria, “the organisation said, noting that while a good number of roads had been started by the administration it completed some abandoned roads and rehabilitated others.
It said the feat was achieved through three basic funding avenues namely, Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), the N100 billion SUKUK Bong and normal budgetary allocation.
In the rail sector, the organisation said the Buhari administration had completed some and started some new ones.
It said the completed rail projects included the Abuja Light Rail System and the Abuja- Kaduna railway, while the Abuja-Itakpe, Ajaokuta-Warri and Lagos-Abeokuta-Ibadan tracks were under construction.
The organisation noted that in the power sector, the administration was undertaking several major power projects and had achieved from 4, 000 MW to 7,000 MW of additional power generation capacity.
It added that transmission and expansion programme to improve grid capacity as well as distribution expansion programme was currently going on across the country to increase distribution.
It further added that the administration was also energising economies initiative which was being implemented by Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
This, it said, was to provide off-grid clean, affordable and constant electricity to economic clusters such as markets and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) across the country.
“So far, thousands of shops in Sabon Gari in Kano State, Ariaria market in Aba, Abia, Isinkan market in Akure, Ondo State, Edaiken Market in Benin, Edo and other states have been provided solar power through the initiative,“ the organisation said.
According to it, within the new few months, the REA plans to provide 80,000 shops with energy, which would translate to 2,500 jobs and 350,000 SMEs.
