Bello, who is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer,
Shine Bridge Global Incorporated and SBG West Africa Ltd., disclosed this on
Thursday in Lagos.
He said that the ESP introduced by President Muhammadu
Buhari in March 2020 would drive economic growth.
According to Bello, the focus on the real sector of the
economy and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) has the potential
to grow the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Bello believed that the economic stimulus package to
mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy was well-thought-out as the
projected negative 4.4 per cent would greatly improve.
“The plan was well conceived in March 2020 at the initial
stage of the pandemic when the President launched the Economic Sustainability
Committee and I can testify that the programme is on track to achieve the
economic growth objectives.
“On the GDP and economic growth, what has been very exciting
for me personally is the focus on the real sectors of the economy food and
agriculture being the primary driver and of course the MSMEs.
“The committee looked at four scenarios in terms of the
economic impact or threat of COVID-19, I thought was a well-carried-out plan
the jury is still out in terms of results and linking it back to the Africa
Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
“First was to say if we do nothing in terms of the economic
stimulus package, what would happen to the Nigerian economy and the analysis
showed that we would be negative 4.4 per cent growth if we did nothing to the
economy.
“However, what would happen if N500 billion stimulus package
was infused to the economy, the negative growth would be -1.94 per cent and
what about N2.34 trillion and the expected to be 0.59 per cent but if increased
to N3.6 trillion, negative growth would be 0.42 per cent.
“I believe the inter-ministerial committee ended up at the
N2.3 trillion stimulus package to ensure that Nigeria was able to sustain the
economic diversification in the pandemic and the budgeting process. I think
Nigeria is on the right track with the economic sustainability plan,” Bello
said.
The food innovation technocrat, however, said that the
predictions by the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) were in place to prepare and
guide African economies toward better livelihoods for its citizens.
“The AfDB prediction for the overall Africa economy is very
much on track but if we did nothing, the impact would have been much more
devastating in terms of job losses, food security and a threat to livelihoods
of the millions of people that live in the African continent and Nigeria.
“The inter-ministerial committee, stakeholders parley with
captains of industry, the private sector engagements, job creation are all
pluses, the broad projections of the programme,” he said.
Bello commended the government on engagements made with
commodity associations on maize, rice, poultry and cassava.
“I am very familiar with the Agriculture for Food and Jobs
plan where the government has engaged commodity associations first on the
production of key staple foods like maize, cassava, rice, poultry fisheries and
cattle.
“Also, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development have a programme that is up and coming, to achieve all-year farming,
digital mapping and enumeration have been done for 1.5 million farmers.
“In terms of the database for the dry season and they are
looking at 220,000 farmers across the country. This is a good step in the right
direction.
“Also, they have engaged corporate platform partners in this
programme and Shine Bridge Global is one of those in mechanised cassava farming
in large scale, the goal is for each state to cultivate 20,000 hectares to be
sure that we have food security in the country,” he said.
Bello applauded the AfCFTA which became effective in the
country on Jan. 1, noting that it would strengthen trade ties with the
country’s counterpart as well as GDP growth.
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