Okwe Obi, Abuja
Minister of Budget and National planning, Sen Udoma Udo Udoma, yesterday, said the Economic and Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP), when completed would create 570,600 jobs.
He also said that inter-agency bottlenecks, which is one of the cardinal objectives of the lab would be resolved.
Udoma stated this at the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan Mid-Lab Syndication meeting in Abuja where he also commended the participants for their dedication and resilience.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on media, Akpandem James, he noted that it was no mean feat for owners and operators of businesses to leave their duty posts for six weeks of engagement.
“The progress we have witnessed during the gallery walk in the various labs reflects the enormous amount of work you have put in the past three weeks”, he added.
Reiterating the essence of the labs, the Minister said they were set up mainly to identify and unlock investments from the private sector by resolving complex inter-agency problems that act as barriers to private sector investments.
“By bringing you, the investors and heads of critical agencies of government, into a confined environment, government is offering you a platform to finalise your business decisions in the fastest possible manner.“
He said “data from the three labs show that in the past three weeks, we are on course to meeting our target of $25 billion investment commitment.
“So far, we have identified 59 projects that are four and five star.
“There are several other projects rated one to three star. We will continue to work with these categories of investors to improve the ratings of their projects to a five star project.”
Four and five star rated projects are those that are almost ready and require just finishing touches to conclude while one to three star-rated are those with potentials but need to be further worked upon.
The Minister said he was pleased to note that two (2) projects in the Manufacturing and Processing Lab have been able to procure letters from the ministries concerned to move ahead with their projects.
The Minister was optimistic that given the number of projects that are likely to be ready for approval by the end of the lab process, the aim of resolving inter-agency bottlenecks, which is one of the cardinal objectives of the labs, would have been achieved. When consummated, the projects are capable of creating 570,600 jobs.
During the launch of the Labs on March 13, 2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari, it was indicated that the labs would be targeting an initial $25 billion in investments from the private sector.