FG’s economic recovery plan will tackle recession through sectoral development – NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the Federal Government will help in tackling the nation’s economic recession if due emphasis is given to sectoral development.

The NLC General-Secretary, Dr Peter Eson-Ozo, told our reporter on Wednesday in Abuja that “the plan is zeroed on some specific sectoral initiative policies”.

“For us, what is important is that the implementation should be done.

“When we looked at the plan , we had some issues with it and when we met with the Minister of Budget and Planning over the plan, we stated our observations.

“Generally, it is a good plan because the government now has an instrument to directly tackle the recession in the country, ” he said.

It was reported that President Muhammadu Buhari formally launched the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan on Wednesday in Abuja.

The plan, initiated by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, contains 60 critical initiatives expected to help in re-positioning the economy and putting it on the path of growth.

Some of the initiatives included the nation’s macro-economic stability, energy infrastructure and driving industrialisation.

Eson-Ozo said that the plan was not a conventional type that had duration or targeted at specific projects.

The general-secretary, however, said that labour had emphasised that the plan should have targeted grassroots, based on bottom-top approach.

He expressed dismay that grassroots was not sufficiently engaged in the process of the economic recovery and growth plan, saying inputs from the constituencies and interest groups should have enriched such a document.

According to him, stakeholders are not carried along from conceptualisation to finishing; instead, what they did is to do the plan and share it, and then consulted with stakeholders.

“By the way, what is crucial is that they needed to dutifully implement it (ERGP) and see that the recession is actually tackled by all means.

“So, we do hope that the policies evolved will work in the directions of the anticipated objectives and ultimately tackle the recession,” Eson-Ozo said.

He commended the initiative while expressing optimism that the nation would be on a sound economic footing.