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Needs and Mr. President
By
NSE OBOT WILLIAM__________________________________________________________________
The
National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) is
Nigeria’s plan for prosperity. It is the people’s way of letting the
government know what kind of Nigeria they wish to live in, now and
in the future. It is the government’s way of letting the people know
how it plans to overcome the deep and pervasive obstacles to
progress that the government and the people have identified. It is
also a way of letting the international community know where Nigeria
stands in the region and in the world and how it wishes to be
supported.
NEEDS is Nigeria’s development plan, inspired by current challenges
for change and vigorous growth. It identifies the major problems and
how to solve them. It sets realistic targets for progress and
outlines a way of funding activities to achieve them.
NEEDS is a development plan that integrates economic development
efforts at the federal, state and local government levels; it does
not confine itself to specific sectors or limits itself to
addressing only the major challenges identified. Instead it looks at
the big picture, examining how the challenges identified in each
sector effect one another.
The frame work of NEEDS document: Empowering people. By allowing the
private sector to thrive, NEEDS creates opportunities for employment
and wealth creation. It empowered people to take advantage of these
opportunities by creating a system of incentive that rewards hard
work and punishes corruption, by investing in education and by
providing special programmes for the most vulnerable members of
society.
Promoting Private Enterprise. The private sector will be the engine
of economic growth under NEEDS. It will be the executor, investor,
and manager of business. The government will play the role of
enablers, facilitator, and regulator; helping the private sector
grow, create jobs, and generate wealth.
Changing the way the government does its work. NEEDS aims to
restructure the government to make it smaller, stronger, better
skilled, and more efficient at delivering essential services. NEEDS
seeks to restore trust in government or maintains an environment
that enables Nigerians to implement livelihood strategies and
achieve personal goals.
The goals of NEEDS centre on four key areas. Wealth creation,
employment generation, poverty reduction and value reorientation;
and Mr. President’s seven-point agenda centre on power and energy,
food security, wealth creation, transport, land reforms, security
and education. When you have a close look at the above, you will
agree with me that the NEEDS and Mr. President’s seven-point agenda
are like husband and wife because NEEDS is a document that came on
board as a result of the agreement reached at New York where the
African heads of state agreed that each African country should
produce a document peculiar to their country.
NEEDS is a document that is Nigeria based that acknowledges the
Nigerian development problem and the way forward. So, also Mr.
President’s seven-point agenda cumulated Nigeria’s development
problem into seven-point agenda and strategizes the holistic and
realistic way of achieving or solving the stated development
problem. You will agree with me that when NEEDS and Mr. president’s
seven-point agenda receive the limelight, poverty which is the bane
of development will not be seen in our great country. However,
permit me to remind you of the factors that are contributing to
poverty in Nigeria. These include problem in the productive sector,
widening income inequality, weak government, social conflict,
gender, intersectoral, and environmental issues. I want to say this
once more, the strict adherence of NEEDS and the Seven-Point Agenda
is the remedy to factors contributing to poverty in our country.
Though government problems are widely thought to have been a major
reason why past poverty alleviation programmes have had little
effect, we thank the Almighty that governance is a little stable and
professional now. Empirical evidence shows that poverty and
environmental degradation are inextricably linked in Nigeria which
have received quick intervention through the land reform of Mr.
President.
NEEDS seeks to significantly improve the quality of life of
Nigerians. It further seeks to create social safety nets for the
vulnerable and meet the needs of people displaced by the reform
process. NEEDS recognizes education as the vital transformational
tool and a formidable instrument for socio-economic empowerment.
Education is critical to meeting the goals set by NEEDS. The goal of
the NEEDS health component is to improve the health of Nigerians in
order to reduce poverty as many of the diseases that affect
Nigerians are due to unhealthy environmental conditions. The NEEDS
HIV/AIDS policy aims to create an environment in which all Nigerians
can live socially and economically productive lives free of the
disease and its negative effects.
Using this medium, therefore, I call on my fellow countrymen and
women to contribute their quota in order to ensure that these
laudable programmes succeed. Let us not continue to ask what our
county can do for us but what we can for our country. By so doing,
Nigeria will take its proper place in the comity of nations.
Samaila wrote in from Abia.
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