Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday said the Federal Government would accommodate the views of private investors as part of efforts to achieve the objectives of its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.
Osinbajo spoke at the inauguration of the Core Working Teams for the ERGP Focus Labs at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“We want to listen to what investors are saying; we want to listen to what the private sector is saying; I want to see in what ways we can bend over backwards to accommodate what they are saying so that we can achieve our objectives,” the Vice President said.
He stated that the present administration recognised that the private sector sought to be the driver of the economy, adding that the role of the government should be to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
“Our administration fully recognises that the private sector ought to be the driver of the economy, mobilising and deploying the bulk of capital required to deliver growth and prosperity; and the role of government should essentially be to create the environment for the private sector to thrive,” he stated.
Osinbajo explained that the principle on which the ERGP focus labs were designed was one that would create the enabling environment for the private sector and stated that the government was committed to the principle.
He said the focus labs were designed to bring together the private and public sector participants as well as potential investors to think through the implementation of the specific areas of focus for the labs, including agriculture and transportation; manufacturing and processing; and power and gas.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, stated that the present administration inherited what he described as a challenged economy.
He, however, said through deliberate policies, the administration was able to put the economy back on the path of growth.
The minister said the sector-specific focus labs were being rolled out to provide the private sector the needed leverage to drive the economy to enable it to attain the targeted seven per cent growth.
Udoma noted, “We are starting with agriculture and transportation, manufacturing and processing, power and gas supply.
“We have a target of 15 million jobs and we must achieve it and it would be used to resolve complex inter-agency problems that inhibit private sector investment.”