President Bola Tinubu has said that he will not look back in the journey to restore Nigeria’s economic glory.
He also sought to inspire stakeholders on Thursday in Abuja at a meeting with members of the Board and Management of the Nigeria Economic Support Group (NESG).
The President reiterated his unequivocal resolve to fully implement the eight priority reform areas under the Renewed Hope Agenda within the next three years.
The President emphasized that Nigeria is blessed with rich human and natural resources, in addition to deficit opportunities, which can quickly be leveraged into new prosperity, calling for the urgent exploitation of Nigeria’s diversity for collective gain, with an eye on new think tanks in the agricultural sector and the establishment of a commodity exchange.
“We have gone through the past. I will not look back. The focus of my horse and my race remains forward-looking. We have an abundance of knowledge and untapped mineral resources, and an agricultural sector that is God-given, but we tend to shy away from taking those gigantic steps that will result in prosperity for our people. We are not exploiting our diversity for prosperity, we are at each other’s throats, arguing about unnecessary things, instead of thinking and doing for our people,” the President said.
According to a statement by Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), Tinubu noted that he was elected on a “no excuses” platform for renewed hope and that he will not accept excuses from anyone in his government as they set out to deliver on his agenda.
“Looking backwards is retrogressive for any reformer. Looking forward can give you the leaps that will propel you in the right direction. We need think tanks in the agricultural sector. I don’t see why Nigeria will be so blessed with good soil and not have a commodity exchange. I don’t see why we have not been able to interrogate our real estate sector and propel it.
“I don’t see why we have not used consumer credit to build the purchasing power of our people and the capacity of our very own manufacturing sector,” the President assessed.
While commending the NESG for believing in the reforms of his administration, the President said the “bitter pill” must be administered to an ailing nation and economy to build a better future for the country.
“I am here and I believe we can do it together. No single person succeeds alone. The world is dynamic. We are confronted with climate change and other challenges, but somewhere in the eye of the storm, there is a quiet and peaceful corner for those who can toil well. With patience and determination, we will succeed,” the President assured.
The Chairman of NESG, Mr. Olaniyi Yusuf, welcomed the economic reforms announced by the Tinubu administration, specifically with respect to fuel subsidy removal, foreign exchange rate harmonization, food security and palliatives to sub-national governments.
The NESG Chairman pledged that the NESG would work with the newly inaugurated cabinet to achieve the eight-point agenda of the administration.
“Your track record in the effective implementation of bold economic reforms as the Governor of Lagos leaves those of us in the private sector without doubt that you will achieve much greater feats as our nation’s president,” the NESG Chairman confided.
He used the occasion of the courtesy visit to formally request the President to declare open the NESG Summit in October, as well as to direct Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to partner with them and participate fully at the Summit as part of efforts to ramp up local and foreign direct investment in Nigeria.
At a webinar organised by the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, experts chart course for a proactive, all-inclusive and sustainable health system, AKEEM LASISI writes
A major lesson that COVID-19 has taught the world is the need to synthesise, strategise and seek the positive from an unpleasant phenomenon. It is primarily a health issue but it is bonding many sectors, including the public and private. The need to evaluate and consolidate such a partnership between government and the private sector in Nigeria is what inspired a recent webinar organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, At the programme experts from both facets rubbed minds on how the country can better manage the pandemic and build a structure that will be able to stand future eventualities.
The webinar tagged ‘Government and Private Sector Engagement in Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond’ brought together experts from strategic fields. Among them was acclaimed banker and Founder, Africa Initiative for Governance & Co- Chair Private, Governance and Institutions Policy Commission (GIPC), Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, who co-chaired it with Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, who is the Head of Service of the Federation. Other participants included Mrs. Wonu Adetayo, NESG Board Member & CEO, Kainos Edge Limited; Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters; and Dr. Emmanuel C. Meribole, Permanent Secretary, Service Policies and Strategies Office (SPSO), Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation. The highly engaging webinar was moderated by Mrs. Nkechi Onyenso, CEO, Pathfinders International and Facilitator, Governance and Institutions Policy Commission (GIPC). Adetayo
Setting the tone for discussion, Imoukhuede noted that the work of the GIPC was to leverage on what the Economic Summit does – create emphasis on government and institutional reforms. He stressed the need for Nigeria to strengthen its health structure in a way that it will be responsive to challenges and be accountable on all fronts.
He said, “All over the world, COVID-19 has drained resources of governments. Its impacts on people are far-reaching. It is great that African countries have benefited from the lowest infection rate. We give God the glory because our preparation for a more devastating attack would have found us wanton.
“Now, as we continue to do our best to tackle the pandemic, we must bear in mind that it is not what you deal within one year and you say you have stopped it. Experience has shown that serious pandemics are generational. So, fighting them is a marathon battle. Countries that deal with them well do so as a marathon battle. This is not what will go magically.” Dipeoplu
Imoukhuede acknowledged the role the health industry and the private sector have played in global response. Without them, he said, the means to fight the battle would not have been there.
“The health industry and private sector have done well in terms of emergency. In out own situation, we acknowledge what hospitals and health workers have done. The private sector too, through the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), has done well. Now, the real issue borders on the need to come together to establish something more fundamental than the emergency structure. We have had social unrest along the line, which can be linked to the trauma of COVID-19. We have had recessions and there is more unemployment. The challenge now is how to establish a sustainable broad-based health structure because you can deal with the problems on an emergency basis till forever.”
Imoukhuede enjoined all to get involved, with technology coming at the centre of the gravity.
He added, “The ability to share information is important. The NCDC regularly has information on COVID, but socio-economic impacts and indices are not there. We have got to get our handle on socio-economic data, to be able to inform Nigeria on what is really happening and what is being done.
“In terms of engagement, more has to be done. Particularly, vulnurable groups too should be engaged well. In terms of technology and government, a deliberate strategy has to evolve, giving task to specific people in government. The Nigerian private sector, when it comes to dealing with the public, typically needs to be invited. So, government needs to draw them out, while better work should be done on accountability.
Adetayo also noted that the strain that COVID had put on government was extreme. She said the impact on the people was far reaching, especially with the third wave that had made the country’s confirmed cases and fatalities sharply increasing.
Adetayo said, “The COVID-19 experience has shown that it is vital for government to provide accurate information to people in time of crises. It will help everyone in making good decisions. But in terms of technology utilisation, government has failed to make use of digital tools. It should should make use of existing and new tech to soften impacts of the crises on lives of Nigerians.”
For Digbolu, what the pandemic presents as a problem harbours an opportunity for public and private sector collaboration beyond the present. He suggested cooperation in medical research and vaccine production.
He said, “Engagement should look closely at other areas of cooperation. There is the need to strengthen public service. Digitisation of government is now a necessity. Public service reform is crucial. There is the need to build trust and confidence between industry leaders and public sector. There is the need to boost manufacturing to engage larger populace.”
On his part, Soetan believes that gains have been made in terms of approach to work, digitaisation etc. Yet, he sees the need need to shore up the capability of the public sector to be able to respond to socio-economic challenges.
“The NCDC has done well and worked well with other sectors. COVID-19 has taught us of the need to be inclusive. There is the need for the public sector to move with speed, the type associated with the private sector. As stakeholders, there is the need to be proactive in making things happen,” he said. Ofowe Aig-Imoukhuede
While Meribule envisioned a civil service of the future as one built on professionalism, digitised system and with right ethics so that the private sector can work with them, Ofowe Aigh-Imokhuede highlighted efforts that the Aig-Imhoukuede Foundation and its subsidiary, Africa Initiative for Governance, has been making to strengthen the public sector. According to her, an MOU was signed in 2017 to support its reforms efforts.
The OHCSF-AIG partnership is committed to building capacity in public service delivery and has invested significantly in upskilling Nigeria’s civil servants. To date, 27 African Initiative for Governance scholarships has been awarded to outstanding individuals from Nigeria and Ghana to study at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University in the UK. Each of these graduates has come back to Nigeria to apply what they learned during their scholarships to work in public service.
This year, the African Initiative for Governance introduced the Public Leaders Programme that will train up to 100 civil servants a year, also through a Blavatnik School of Government curriculum, at £11, 500 per delegate, the project is a significant investment in upskilling the public sector leaders
“Our work shows what is possible,” she told attendees at the webinar. “However, public-private sector collaboration must be deliberate if it’s to be successful. I encourage the wider Nigerian private sector to reach out and engage and offer its skills, insights, and capability to the public sector in a spirit of true mutually enhancing partnership.
The Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG) is partnering the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the Federal Government to fund the building of a Nigeria COVID-19 Incidence and Resource Tracker, Dashboard and Predictive Analytic Platform (Systems Platform).
The NESG Chief Executive Officer, Laoye Jaiyeola, said on Wednesday in a statement that once deployed, the systems platform would provide a National and Sub-National Inventory Management System.
According to Jaiyeola, this is to assist in the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
The Systems Platform solution is expected to provide a robust, up-to-date database of Federal and Sub-National resource and availability requirements for the COVID-19 response, based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended resource specifications on packages for COVID-19.
Jaiyeola said: “This will give national visibility of what is procured, in-stock and out-of-stock across the Federal and State Testing, Treatment and Isolation Centres.
“The real-time data provided will enable the government, private sector, international organisations and other donors to mobilise more effectively in providing the critical human and material resources needed to support the country’s response to the pandemic.’’
Also, Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede, a Director of AIG, said: “This is key for the future of Nigeria’s COVID-19 response.
“This is beyond improving the transparency, accountability and governance of national resources co-sourced from public, private and development sectors towards the COVID-19 response.
“The Predictive Analytic Model embedded in the Platform will enable the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, and the NCDC to predict and project the rate of infections, deaths and consequent resource requirements,” Aig-Imoukhuede explained.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on May 19, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 endorsed the partnership between AIG and NESG for the development of the Systems Platform.
The systems platform is equally deployed in collaboration with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
The PTF on COVID-19 is made up of Heads of the Federal Ministry of Health, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.
The systems platform is expected to improve the National and State Health Information Management System by adding the platform’s capabilities seamlessly to the country’s existing data ecosystem.
The objective is to help in galvanising efforts at efficiently plugging nationwide resource gaps across the three priority areas of Testing, Treatment and Isolation and Contact Tracing and Tracking in the context of COVID-19.
AIG is a not-for-profit founded to inspire the transformation of Africa’s public sector. AIG works with governments, academic institutions and other partners to improve governance and transform public sector performance.
AIG’s pioneering initiative brings proven private sector innovation, leadership and funding to the public sector in a private-public partnership that seeks to attract, inspire and support future leaders of Africa’s public sector.
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) is a private sector led think-tank and research-based policy advocacy organisation that promotes sustainable and inclusive growth in the Nigerian economy.
It is a not-for profit/non-partisan organisation with a mandate to promote and champion the reform of the Nigerian economy into an open, private sector-led economy that is inclusive, globally competitive on a sustainable basis.
