There is considerable progress in the
implementation of ideas generated at last year’s retreat of the National
Economic Council, according to a Monitoring Report presented to the Council at
the July meeting earlier today.
At the NEC
meeting presided over by the Acting President, YemiOsinbajo, SAN, the report of
an Ad-hoc Committee on Ecological Fund was also received with recommendations
on how to manage the Fund. Prof.Osinbajo noted the report and stated that
the Federal Government will now consider the recommendations and take its decision
on the matter
The NEC Retreat
which was held in March, 2016 adopted 71 resolutions across six thematic areas,
which included; agriculture, solid minerals, investments, industrialization and
enabling monetary policy. Others are infrastructure and services, investing in
our people and survival of states & beyond.
The monitoring
activities started in the 1st quarter of 2017 determined the
level of implementation of the resolutions and the extent to which the Federal
Government and States have invested towards achieving the objectives of the
resolutions.
National
Economic Council (NEC) is composed of Governors of the 36 States including the
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and the Central Bank Governor.
Below are the
highlights of deliberations of the 79th NEC meeting:
NEC (6TH IN
2017) 79TH NEC MEETING – THURSDAY,
20TH JULY,
2017
A. PRESENTATION ON REFORMING
NIGERIA AT THE SUBNATIONAL LEVEL BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF INDUSTRY, TRADE
AND INVESTMENT
·
The Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment made a
presentation to Council on Reforming Nigeria at the Subnational level,
emphasizing the need to bring Enabling Business Environment Reforms to all
tiers of Government and indeed to all Nigeria.
·
He informed Council that there is a strong correlation between
Ease of Doing Businesses Ranking and Economic prosperity.
·
According to the Minister, the Businesses Enabling Environment
Agenda being coordinated by the Presidential Enabling Businesses Council is at
the heart of Government Agenda, whose mandate is to:
- Removed critical bottlenecks
and bureaucratic constraints to doing businesses in Nigeria, aimed at moving
the country upwards in global businesses ranking.
- Areas of focus in removing
the bottlenecks include; starting a business, entry and exit of people, getting
electricity, registering property, getting credit, paying taxes, trading across
borders and the ease of getting construction permits.
·
Council was also informed that the 4th subnational
Doing Business rankings for Nigeria is scheduled for 2018, with the 1st,
2nd and 3rd having taken place in 2008, 2010
and 2014 respectively. Appropriate templates are already being drawn up to
prepare States for the exercise.
·
Council was informed that some States such as Kaduna, Ogun, Cross
River and Anambra have already commenced work to improve the ease of doing
business in their respective domains.
·
Council were also informed that a National Steering Committee has
already been constituted to ensure synergy across all stakeholders to ensure
the coordinated delivery of the reform objectives.
Council decision
Council urged that the Ministry should work with an already existing Committee being chaired by the Honourable Minister of State for Budget and National Planning in this regard.
B. PRESENTATION BY
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR BUDGET AND NATIONAL PLANNING ON NEC RESOLUTION
IMPLEMENTATION MONITORING 2016/2017 REPORT:
Background:
Ø The NEC Retreat which held in march
2016 adopted 71 Resolutions across 6 thematic areas
Ø The NEC directed the Implementation
Monitoring Committee (IMS) lea by the HMS BNP to monitor the implementation of
the 71 resolutions.
ØThe 6 thematic areas are:
·
Agriculture
·
Solid minerals
·
Investments,
Industrialization and enabling Monetary policy.
·
Infrastructure
and services.
·
Investing in
our people.
·
Survival of
States and Beyond.
The monitoring activities began in the 1st quarter
of 2017.
Today the Monitoring Committee
Chairperson, HMSBNP presented the monitoring report to Council
Among others, the objectives/purpose of the monitoring was to:
·
Determine the
level of implementation of Resolutions.
·
Determine the
extent to which Federal and State Governments have invested towards achieving
the Objectives of the resolution of the Council.
·
Determine
progress made against planned activities and also asses what was planed and
what was achieved during project implementation.
·
Identify
lessons learnt and provide an opportunity for peer review of knowledge sharing
on good policies during project implementation.
Highlights of the exerciser include that:
·
IMC monitored
27 States.
·
33 States
submitted work plans.
·
Almost all the
States implemented Resolution 4 and 10, crop production partnership and opening
rural feeder roads respectively.
o Intervention funded and
partnership projects between States, FG or development partners were
successful.
o State based Enterprises
(SBES) complained of foreign exchange distortions, irregular power supply and
uncertain cash plans as major factors inhibiting performance
Recommendations
(i) Challenges of rural banking (farmers and vendors etc) CBN and participant banks should be tasked to find innovative, efficient and sustainable means of handling BVN registration and other non traditional banking services to the informal groups are as part of its financial inclusion strategies.
(ii) Work
plan – there is need to complete and update the workplan of States to reflect
projects and programmes implemented by State for effective planning, result
tracking and performance evaluation.
(iii) Peer
Review – there is need for increased cooperation among States to achieved
economics of scale and maximize comparative advantage.
(iv)There is need for the continuous
monitoring exercise and feedback mechanism for improved performance and policy
dialogue.
(v) There
is need for State/Regional peer reviews.
Council decision
Council commended the HMSBNP for the report and urged the States to liaise
strongly with the Federal Government in the task of National Planning and
Development.
ABIA STATE GOVERNOR WILL SHARE BRIEFS EXPERIENCES ON THE
ABOVE
D. EXCESS CRUDE ACCOUNT AND RELATED MATTERS
1. Accountant
General of the Federation briefed Council on the balances in the following
accounts as at 19th July, 2017:
(i)
Excess Crude Account (ECA)
- USD 2.303 billion
(ii)
Ecological Fund
Account
- N27.466 billion
(iii)
Stabilization
Account
- N2.553 billion
(iv) Development
of Natural Resources Account – N77.922 billion
2. PRESENTATION BY GOVERNOR OF GOMBE STATE
· Gombe
State Governor presented a report to the Council on Forensic Audit of Revenue
Accrued from Revenue Generating Agencies (RGAs) into Federation Account (FA),
Excess Crude Account (ECA) and Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF)
· The
Acting President welcomed the Interim Report and noted that Council will await
the outcome of the final report and then discuss the Report.
D. COMMITTEE ON ECOLOGICAL FUND SUBMITS FINAL REPORT- RECOMMENDS ROBUST GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE, STRINGENT DISBURSEMENT CRITERIA.
· The
EL-Rufai led AD-Hoc committee of the Council on Ecological fund set up by the
NEC April, 2017 today submitted its report to Council, recommending among other
things a robust governance structure and a stringent disbursement criteria to
sanitize the management of the fund.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The committee
made the following recommendations:
That
disbursement of the fund should be based on the following criteria;
· Physical
visitation by the Ecological office team and on the spot assessment and
verification of the ecological disaster.
· Technical
evaluation of the disaster by experts.
· Community
involvement.
· Prior
to the disaster, there must be evidence of Advocacy.
· Evidence
of existing prompt, Emergency response mechanism in place before the disaster.
· Monitoring
and Evaluation framework must be build into the application of Ecological fund
as a road map for measuring performance of the fund.
· A
feedback team that will review the reports of the disbursement must be in
place.
· Adequate
publicity of Ecological disaster to create awareness and consciousness in the
citizenry to avoid future occurrence is necessary.
· Evidence
of cost estimate must be attached to application.
· Adequate
justification for the project must be given.
· Due
process in vendor engagement must be followed.
· At
all times 50% of the FG share or N20 billion must be reserved for emergencies
at the discretion of Mr President.
Council Decision
Council
commended the El-Rufal Committee for the painstaking job and noted that the
Federal Government will consider the recommendations.
E. HIGHLIGHT OF
THE 2018 – 2020 MTEF BY THE HONOURABLE
MINISTER,
MINISTRY OF BUDGET AND NATIONAL PLANNING
· The Honourable
Minister informed Council of the overriding need to return the budget cycle to
the January – December calendar year.
· That the 2018 –
2020 MTEF is anchored on the ERGP
· The
current Global Economic outlook posited that the country is expecting growth,
though there are still some challenges that may impact negatively on growth
from now till 2020.
· He listed policy
changes in the US and Britain’s exit from EU, the climate change issue, oil
price fluctuations as some of the uncertainties.
· Assured that the
country is already getting out of recession even as oil prices are still
sliding. The non-oil sector is growing.
· Recoveries being
recorded in Manufacturing, Agriculture and Services.
· Efforts aimed at
achieving peace in Niger Delta yielding fruits.
· ERGP key
objectives and the execution priorities will get country back to growth.
F. PRESENTATION ON ISSUES OF RIGHT OF
WAY/MULTIPLE TAXATION BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATION
· Honourable
Minister of Communication presented a Memo to Council on need for harmonization
of the Right of way charges in respect of telecommunication and related public
utility infrastructure on Local Governments, States and Federal Highways.
· Memo spelt out
roles/responsibilities of LGCs, States and telecommunication operators in the
management of Right of Way (ROW) issues.
· He informed
Council that most States are still charging different and higher rates, despite
NEC’s resolution that mandate States to adopt and implement Federal Ministry of
Works guidelines for grant of Right of Way to ICT service on Highways.
· Current practice
in Nigeria where various telecommunication operators design, survey, dig,
deploy and manage their individual fibers networks amounts to duplication of
efforts, multiple earthworks and treaches as well as increased administrative
and licensing costs.
· The Memo invited
all stakeholders to consider, adopt and approve the use of shared duct
strategy, managed by a designated Agency in all tiers of government for the
deployment of public utility infrastructure for effective and efficient service
delivery and accelerated socio economic development of the country,
particularly the transformation of our various cities, towns and villages to a
smart status.
Council Decision
Council asked the
Ministry of Communication to liaise with the States and relevant stakeholders
for the smooth implementation of the Right of Way project.
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