Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday blamed the inability of countries with huge natural resources like Nigeria to develop on poor governance and weak institutional structures.
Osinbajo who spoke in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi State, also identified lack of transparency and accountability as other factors militating against national development.
The Vice President spoke at the 21st Meeting of the National Council on Development Plan, NCDP.
He said the theme of the meeting, “Good Governance and Institutional Capacity: Pathways to Sustainable National Development” was apt as there was need to develop the capacity of the country’s institutions to properly implement its development plans.
Osinbajo said: “The strategic objective of the national development plan include establishing a strong foundation for a diversified economy, investing in infrastructure, improving government and stamping out insecurity. All of which would contribute to achieving our national development aspirations.
“The content of the plan is as important as the process for which it was developed. And I find the extensive deliberations and contributions to fashion a medium term blueprint .
“But the implementation of the plan is the crux of the matter and this speaks of the relevance to the theme of the meeting ‘Good Governance and Institutional Capacity: Pathways to Sustainable National Development.’
“The question I am sure some of us ask ourselves is that why countries with huge natural and human resources still develop slowly and have greater number of poverty than other less endowed society or country without resources at all like South Korea and Singapore.
“Why do they still perform better than the resourceful countries of the world? I think most of the surveys conducted show that there is lack of good governance and weak institutional capacity that largely account for the difference .
“How public institutions function is of course an approach determined by institutional capacity. But this is not having a merely educated and well motivated workforce. But a system that can enforce transparency and accountability. You must have a system that can deliver on transparency and accountability.
“So even when a country has the whole natural resources in every local government area and even well educated workforce, a country can still fail and social services can still be poorly delivered and extreme poverty can prevail.”
Osinbajo said the country’s economy was affected by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.
While calling for synergy among all tiers of government to tackle the challenges, Mr Osinbajo warned Nigerians to brace themselves for future onslaught on the economy.
“The council on development planning has remained a very important platform for setting the tone of national development. It certainly provides opportunity for federal and state governments to fathom out active collaboration for the wellbeing of our people.
“The need for synergy among all tiers of government at this critical time, especially as we continue to face the challenges of the onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic, which is now compounded by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has already led to price and supply shock, especially in food.
“We must brace ourselves to collectively respond to the inevitable economic challenge that will occur and some which are already occurring,” he said.
The Vice President commended the Council, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Federal and State MDAs and all stakeholders and partners in the private sector and the civil society for the sterling work done in articulation of a national development plan 2021-2025.
The Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, opposed collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) by states describing it as invitation to anarchy.
He noted that the National Assembly should be encouraged to look into the matter and work on including VAT in the exclusive list.
Minister for Finance, Zainab Ahmed, urged states to ensure that their medium term plans are in alignment with the country’s aspirations.
She advised them to partner the organized private sector in carrying out their development plans.
The Vice President later commissioned some projects carried out by the state government.
They include the dualization of a section of Abakaliki/Afikpo highway, Sam Egwu Flyover Ezzamgbo, new government house chapel, Muhammadu Buhari Light Tunnel, Dualized Concrete Road of Ezzamgbo, Pulverization Plant Junction, Abakaliki, and Dualized Concrete Road from Mile 50 to Ishieke.
