Embracing global best practices, tackling socio economic issues and facilitating policy dialogue, analyst says are expected to be the hallmark of Nigeria’s transformation agenda.
Generally, the private sector is regarded as the major driver of any country’s economy. This is because efficiency, competition and creativity form the oil which lubricates the engine of growth in business. The expectation of the Nigerian government is that the experience, connection and versatility of the players in the private sector, which have kept their business concerns going over the years in spite of the not too favourable business environment, will become the magic wands in running a renascent economy.
The recent involvement of the major private sector players in the Nigerian economy as members of the Economic Management Team to drive President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda means different things to different people. Even though it is impossible to rule out their business interests from the Federal government’s assignment of running the economy with the selected ministers and other public office holders in the team, Nigerians are in a hurry to start reaping the gains of truly democratic government.
Another dimension of the involvement of the private sector emerged recently when the African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE) took the bull by the horns by bringing the stakeholders to rub minds at the Roundtable on Economic Transformation Process in Abuja. The event was held in collaboration with the Office of the Special Adviser on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation.
AIAE is an independent research institute devoted to economic research towards promoting evidence-based decision making through sound analysis of socio economic issues, facilitating policy dialogue and private sector development activities. The Institute is an economic research think-tank devoted to improving the evidence and analytic bases for sound public policies in Nigeria and Africa.
The discussion at the Roundtable revolved round key pillars for Nigeria's economic transformation, namely fiscal consolidation; business environment and institutional reforms and participants were drawn from the relevant government agencies, members of the Economic Management Team, Diplomatic Community, the Organised Private Sector (OPS), Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Civil Society Organisations ( CSOs) and other stakeholders. The Executive Director of the AIAE, Professor Eric Eboh, said the three key economic issues of fiscal consolidation; business environment and service delivery tackled at the Roundtable were equally important and interrelated. The policy analyst noted that these three economic fundamentals could therefore be considered as critical signposts of Nigeria’s transformation.
Eboh averred that, “Fiscal consolidation would entail prudent management of public spending by the three tiers of government. Improving the business environment, particularly power and transportation, is indispensable for economic diversification, accelerated growth, creation of wealth and employment. But, unlocking the business environment for non-oil growth will not happen without significant reforms of infrastructure and regulatory systems. Achieving better service delivery is fundamentally linked to public service and institutional reforms that are designed to deliver improved public service performance, effectiveness and efficiency.”
He charged the policymakers to handle these critical issues with all seriousness because, “how the country deals with the decision, challenges and associated trade offs will shape the success of the economic transformation agenda and the prospects of economic prosperity in the medium to long term. The criticality of the economic policy challenges coupled with the government’s economic transformation agenda has re-ignited the momentum for realignment of macroeconomic, fiscal and sector policies.”
For the Special Adviser to the President on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Professor, Sylvester Monye, performance is the bottom-line of the people’s expectation of government. He disclosed that his office was developing simple and straightforward measures to assess whether the outcomes expected of the government agencies were being realised.
Hitting the nail on the head, the Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Issa Bello, said that for Nigeria to realize its dream in line with Vision 20:2020 and the Transformation Agenda, “the Civil Service which harbours the human resources needed to propel the nation forward should be prepared to embrace global best practices and the challenges thrown up by globalization.” He then called on the stakeholders to join forces with government in charting the course to logical conclusion.
The number one civil servant revealed that in the interim, government would look forward to continuing with the following interventions while looking for areas to fine tune them as we go along; service delivery initiative, christened SERVICOM, examination for appointment of permanent secretaries, mandatory training and examination for all officers, the performance management system, the e-learning initiative and staff exchange programme between the public service and the private sector.
The other speakers at the conference called for holistic approach to the transformation process. According to them, this is a period of change for the country, re-engineering, restructuring, re-organisation, reworking and transformation. They urged the government to introduce performance contract which clearly specifies the intentions, obligations and responsibilities of the government and the workers. Performance contract is freely negotiated performance agreement between the government, acting as the agency, and the management of the agency.
The toga of responsibility is now on all the stakeholders to see how this dream can be realised. In fact, one big lesson to learn from the AIAE’s initiative is that the role of the private sector in driving economic process cannot be over emphasised. Research institutes, NGOs, CSOs should join forces to chart the course of progress with the Federal Government. Unless this is done, the country’s dream of becoming one the biggest economies by year 2020 may remain a dream for long.
