President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said with the launch of Focus Labs for the nation’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the bottlenecks delaying proposed investments are now off.
“The goal is to efficiently and effectively resolve the most pressing bottlenecks delaying their proposed investments,” he said at the formal launch of the ERGP Policy Lab at State House Conference Centre.
The policy which is modeled after the Malaysian focus labs is aimed at getting private and public sector investors in identify focused areas of investments.
Each focus labs will be headed by the minister in each of the sector but made up of relevant stakeholders in government and private sector to fasttack the execution of the projects.
According to President Buhari, the relevant Ministers and heads of government agencies have been directed to be available to the participants at the labs to respond to their inquiries and issues.
The President who expressed confidence that the Labs will open up new investments to complement existing efforts in agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructural development across the country, said he expects to receive regular updates on the progress of the Labs.
He reiterated his promise made a year ago that his administration will be committed to its full implementation.
He said Focus Labs have been successfully used in other countries, explaining that the Labs in Nigeria are designed as closed-door investment platforms to identify and accelerate high-impact projects with significant impact on GDP and job creation.
He reiterated that the key goals in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan are focused on: achieving sustainable, diversified and inclusive growth, becoming self-sufficient in basic commodities to curtail our food imports, diversifying our economic base from crude oil dependence, empowering local businesses to create thousands of jobs and, improving the general wellbeing of our people.
