'How the economic summit will mobilise Nigerians to boost economic growth'

The 26th Nigerian Economic Summit will serve as an avenue to mobilise all Nigerians to take responsibility and catalyze sustainable economic growth.

The summit plans to also FastTrack development and competitiveness in partnership with the private sector, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed has said.

The Nigerian Economic Summit is organised annually by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Federal Government of Nigeria represented by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

The summit which is a replica of the World Economic Forum has been acknowledged as a veritable platform for dialogue between the leaders of public and private sectors.

The forum also serves as an opportunity for interaction, experience sharing and building consensus on contemporary economic issues in Nigeria.

In her address at a media briefing for the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit (NESG#26), she stated that the outcome of the summit would be articulated very clearly and decisive actions aimed at building partnerships for resilience shall be taken into consideration.

This year’s summit, in her views, is relatively unique, as it is being hosted at a point in time when the country and the world economy at large is passing through a difficult period occasioned by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her words: “The summit also brings together development partners, the civil society and representatives of the academia as well as provides participants the unique opportunity to interact on issues of national development whilst evolving a common strategy and policy framework for addressing issues. The summit has over the years helped to shape many of the reform policies underpinning the evolution of our economic growth and development”

The Summit, themed “Building Partnership for Resilience”, is scheduled to hold from October 26 – 27, 2020 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

On the timeliness and the process of the summit, Ahmed stated that: “This summit is timely as the government is currently developing a medium-term national development plan (MTNDP) 2021-2025, and the Nigeria agenda 2050. There are 26 technical working groups, a central working group and the steering committee committed to the process. The process is consultative, participatory and inclusive, involving all the segments of society and covering all the sectors of the economy.”

Speaking further, the Minister said that the plans are to address developmental challenges in all aspects of the country’s national life, and will be driven by the organised private sector while the government creates the enabling environment to facilitate growth and development and aligned with the continental agenda, while the MTNDP 2021-2025 is expected to be formally launched in December 2020 as the Nigeria agenda 2050 would be finalised in July 2021.

“The 2020 edition of the NESG will be hybrid, a combination of physical and virtual participation in adherence to the COVID-19 protocols. We have made considerable progress in our preparations and the Summit would be anchored on plenary, CEO roundtable, briefings, workshops, co-labs, re-modelled pitching events and high-level panel discussions. Key outcomes of past summits and their impact on the Nigerian the economy will also be reviewed.

“This year’s summit will be underpinned by three pillars: Collaboration, execution, and impact, with a strong emphasis on reinforcing the role of sub-nationals as the frontiers of economic growth and development,” she also stated.

At the national level, reflecting on the closure of the land borders, she also stated that it was one of the boldest decisions ever taken by any administration to curb insecurity, smuggling and kidnapping.

“This has in a positive way impacted Nigeria as we are closer to attaining self-sufficiency in rice production than at any point in time in the country’s history,” the finance minister further stated.

Mr Asue Ighodalo, Chairman of NESG, in his opening remarks at the briefing, commended the government led by President Muhammadu Buhari for, despite globally difficult circumstances, timely interventions in managing the pandemic and its economic fallout in the short term, while planning for recovery and growth in the medium to long term.

“In addition to offering technical support in economic management, most of us will recall that NESG and our partners – Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), Africa Initiative for Governance, Federal Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control – worked with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to launch the Nigeria COVID-19 Incidence and Response Tracker in August.