Nigeria’s National Development Plan requires speedy implementation – Prof Na-Allah

The implementation of Nigeria’s 2021-2025 National Development plan needs to be timely and uncompromising to achieve speedy and durable results.

Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, University of Abuja, Professor Abdelrazaq Na-Allah stated this at a sensitisation workshop on the National Development Plan, where the EU-Support to implementation of National Economic Policies project was launched in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Prof Na’Allah said there should be no delay in implementation no matter the imperfection of the plan as “an imperfect plan implemented immediately and ruthlessly will always succeed better than a perfect plan (if there is any) with delayed implementation”.

Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, while flagging off the project said one of the achievements of the workshop would be translation of the National Development Plan 2021-2025 into a pamphlet version in several languages to promote the involvement of every citizen in governance.

“I understand that one of the deliverables expected from the workshop is to have a pamphlet version which would easily be translated into Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba languages, Pidgin and Braille. The translations are relevant for galvanising popular support, as well as, promoting citizen’s participation in governance,” he said.

Prince Agba said the occasion marked a major initiative in re-tooling the systems and the foremost institution saddled with the responsibility to “draw-up national economic priorities and implementation strategies.”

Head of Cooperation, EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms Cecile Pelzer remarked that the EU-Nigeria partnership was meant to make the most of the country’s endowments and contribute to overcoming the obstacles.

“This is why the EU and Nigeria have a very substantial interesting bilateral relationship, which encompasses political, security, economic and commercial cooperation as well as an active portfolio of development,” she said.

The Technical Assistance Service Contract to Strengthen the Capacity for Implementation of National Economic Policies including Documentation of the EU Projects in Nigeria is €1.125m (about N480.3 million).