The Federal Government has listed six strategic intervention
areas to be covered by the 2016 budget signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari
on Friday. According to a series of tweets from Aso Rock twitter handle, on
Sunday, the intervention areas include Governance, Transparency and Security;
Diversification (Industrialisation, Agriculture, Solid Minerals, Tourism,
Entertainment); Critical Infrastructure (Power, Rail, Roads and Housing); Oil
and Gas Reforms; Ease of Doing Business and Social Investment. Under
Governance, Transparency and Security, the Federal Government intends to put in
place what it called appropriate forex regime that would lead to a stable and
predictable forex exchange rate. The government also targets 25 per cent
reduction in the cost of procurement by the Bureau of Public Procurement. Under
Diversification through industrialisation, the government plans to utilise 5,000
hectares of irrigable land in 12 River Basin Development Authorities and also
utilise 22 dams for commercial farming.
While adopting and implementing the
Solid Minerals Development Roadmap, the government intends to activate and
revive industrial parks, Free Trade Zones and Export Processing Zones; and also
implement the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan. On critical infrastructure,
the government plans to privatise the National Integrated Power Projects across
the country and optimise the 7,000MW installed capacity by completing ongoing
infrastructural projects in generation, transmission and gas as well as
ensuring that tariff reflects all costs. Under the 2016 N6.06tn budget, the
government also plans to commence the construction of new rail line connecting
Abuja to Ajaokuta; commence the construction of a standard gauge of Lagos-Kano
rail line and complete the rehabilitation of Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port
Harcourt airports and explore concession options. The tweets also said that
plans were also under way to concession the Second Niger Bridge. The government
would also construct 3,552 mixed housing units as pilot schemes in each of the
36 states and Abuja under the National Housing Project, the tweets said. Under
Ease of Doing Business, the Federal Government has a goal of pushing Nigeria up
by 20 places on Ease of Doing Business rankings. This would be done by
establishing a presidential council on Ease of Doing Business in H1 2016. The
government also plans to fast-track visa application and issuance process
including visa-on-arrival for business visitors as well as reduce port clearing
time for goods to 72hours.
Punch (Online)
