It took covid-19 pandemic for the Nigerian government to finally realize that there are certain government expenditures that are unnecessary and non essential, such as the purchase of vehicles among others.
According to a disclosure by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a document tagged ‘What you need to know about the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan’, the Buhari administration will blacklist the purchase of vehicles and other “Non-critical and administrative capital spending” in a bid to cut cost.
The economic plan which is said to be developed by the Economic Sustainability Committee chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, was designed to support the nation’s economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Adesina listed some of the key interventions as stated in the plan as mass agricultural programme, infrastructure, informal sector support, business support for MSMEs, technology, expansion of National Social Investment Programmes, cut non-essential spending and support for state governments.
As part of ways to cut non-essential spending, Adesina said only ambulances, fire-fighting vehicles and other essentials are exempted from the ban on purchase of vehicles.
He said, “The President has approved the implementation of the report on the rationalisation of government agencies. The NESP will also target a reduction in average production costs of crude oil.
“Also, the Integrated Personnel and Payment Information System will be expanded to cover all Federal Government’s MDAs. Non-critical and administrative capital spending will be eliminated, including purchase of vehicles (except for ambulances, fire-fighting vehicles and other essentials).”
Under the plan, Adesina added that a minimum of 1,000 young Nigerians would be recruited per local government into what would be the largest public works programme in the history of Nigeria, amounting to 774,000 direct jobs.
He also said attention would be placed on the construction and repair of major and rural roads, across the country, and delivery of up to 300,000 homes every year.
Adesina said the NESP, which had been developed as a 12-month N2.3trillion transit plan between the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan and the successor plan to the ERGP currently in development would be funded through N500 billion from Special FGN Accounts; N1.1 trillion from the CBN in the form of structured lending; N334 billion from external bilateral/multilateral sources; and N302.9 billion from other funding sources.
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