The National Economic Council (NEC), presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, has endorsed the Nigeria Agenda 2050, designed to, among other things, create 165 million jobs and move Nigeria to an upper middle-income country.

A statement by Mr Osinbajo’s media aide Laolu Akande said the council endorsed the agenda in an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

The agenda 2050 was presented to the council by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

It revealed that the number of people in poverty would decline from roughly 83 million in 2020 to about 47.8 million in 2025 and 2.1 million by 2050, and by the agenda, a significant segment of the population would be removed from poverty.

Mr Akande listed the highlights of the Nigeria Agenda 2050 formulated against the backdrop of several subsisting development challenges such as high population growth, insecurity, high import dependence, low economic growth, and social instability.

“The plan aims to fully engage all resources, reduce poverty, and achieve social and economic stability,” said the statement. “It also targets developing a mechanism for achieving a sustainable environment consistent with global concerns about climate change.’”

Mr Akande said the plan presented the road map for accelerated, sustained and broad-based growth and provided broad frameworks for reducing unemployment, poverty, inequality, and human deprivation.

According to him, the agenda requires significant improvement in the country’s per capita GDP, which will be powered by rapid and sustained economic growth.

“Nigeria’s long-term ambition is to improve its per capita GDP from about $2,084.05 in 2020 to $6,223.23 in 2030 and $33,328.02 in 2050, with rapid and sustained economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction. The Nigeria Agenda 2050 projects annual average real GDP growth of 7.0 per cent,” it added.

The statement explained that the real growth rate of the GDP of the first medium-term NDP 2021-2025 on average would be 4.65 per cent, and this will increase to 8.01 per cent in the second NDP, “subsequently, it is expected to increase to 8.43 per cent in the third.”

“Consequently, the number of full-time jobs created will be roughly 165 million during the agenda period to spur poverty reduction,” added the statement.

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, also spoke on the agenda, claiming that President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime had taken unprecedented steps in ensuring the operationalisation of the plan, especially with the inauguration of the Steering Committee of the National Development Plan by the vice-president.

(NAN)