The Vice-President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has said that the recently approved 2021 – 2025 National Development Plan will usher a new season of accelerated growth in Nigeria because of its focus on value addition as a major pivot to boost productivity in all sectors.
Osinbajo stated this on Saturday at the graduation ceremony of participants of the Senior Executive Course 43 (2021) of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, Jos.
“If we are to inaugurate a new age of accelerated growth then we must adopt a new strategic direction and policy orientation. This is precisely what the Federal Government seeks to do through the National Development Plan 2021-2025, which was recently approved by the Federal Executive Council,” the VP stated, according to a statement on Sunday by his spokesman, Laolu Akande.
The statement was titled, ‘How National Development Plan will accelerate growth – Osinbajo says at NIPSS graduation’.
The VP reportedly cited the emergence of Unicorns from Nigeria, observing that “six of those companies started between 2016 in the middle of two recessions and the global health crisis.”
A Unicorn is a company with a valuation equal to or over a billion dollars.
He submitted that some of the successes recorded by those Unicorns- Nigerian start-ups owned by young men and women, can be attributed to providence and good policies.
According to him, such companies named Unicorns in Nigeria emerged between 2016 and 2021. The companies the VP listed are: Opay, Paystack, Flutterwave, Andela, Piggyvest and Jumia.
He said, “What is responsible for some of these successes? Providence and good policies. Providence because COVID-19 was a boom period for online payment systems. Policy, because Mr President approved the establishment of a Technology and Creativity Advisory Group that helped to formulate new banking policies to accommodate new tech-enabled payment systems, such that these tech companies could process payments without being full-scale banks.”
The Vice President then disclosed that “in terms of strategic direction, the cornerstone of our strategy is boosting productivity by focusing on value addition as the guiding principle for all sectors, especially agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, digital services, tourism, hospitality and entertainment.”
Osinbajo pointed out how the Plan aims to boost productivity in some of these key sectors such as agriculture and mining.
“In agriculture, for example, just as we seek to increase the production of rice, we are paying equal attention to other parts of the value chain such as storage, transportation, processing and marketing.
“Similarly, in the mining sector, we recognize that exploitation and extraction will not create jobs. Our aim is to focus on resource beneficiation, local industries, thereby creating wealth along the mineral value chain,” he explained.
