 I'm delighted to join you today at this special session of the National Council on Development Planning. I thank the Governor and the great people of Bonneau State for the hospitality and support extended towards the successful hosting of this meeting. I also commend the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Honourable Minister of State for Budget and National Planning and all the commissioners for Budget and Economic Planning who are attending this very important meeting in person for having surmounted all the odds posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to participate in this crucial meeting. The fact that this important meeting is taking place in Meduguri shows the desire of all of us to support Bonneau State, which as we all know has faced challenging times in every possible way. It is also a testament to the visible and untiring efforts of Governor Baba Ganal Zulum and the Bonneau State Government to restore the state to the path of peace, security and sustainable development. I must say that I follow very closely the great strides that Governor Zulum has been making and looking at the work that he has done in housing, education, small businesses, and healthcare, etc. with little resources and in one of the worst hit states in terms of terrorist disruptions, it is evident that our problem is often not a paucity of funds as we like to say but a paucity of dedication to the people and their well-being. Your Excellency, we are proud of the incredible achievements you have made in barely three years and we wish you very well in the coming years. Through the years, I have always considered an opportunity to address the National Council on Development Planning as an important one and my reason is that this gathering is unlike any other. Those of you who are here are the thought leaders in development and planning for the public sector in our country. You are the bureaucratic elite responsible for clearly understanding the past while planning seeking appropriate solutions and mapping out effective pathways to deal with the multiple and complex matters that will arise in the future. It follows them that your appreciation and your correct interpretation of the critical issues, the trends and events that may influence socioeconomic outcomes nationally and in our various states is crucial. So what I'd like to do at these meetings of the NCP is to throw out a few broad issues, a few trends or developments that I believe will be significant in our nation's socioeconomic development and political economy and which should therefore require some interrogation by planners and development technocrats. Let me mention five such issues. The COVID-19 pandemic, security and I'll just mention that briefly, climate change, education and the fourth industrial revolution and the African continent of free trade agreements. Let me just repeat those. Let me just repeat those. The COVID-19 pandemic, security and a brief mention of security, education and the fourth industrial revolution, climate change and of course, many of the other, some of the other issues which I may mention in passing as we go, each of these matters requires deliberate policy responses and deserves the attention of this distinguished gathering of economic managers. The COVID-19 pandemic, taking the first, has had a unique and devastating impact on our health and economic systems and on our social life. For a vibrant and enterprising people like ours, the whole experience of lockdowns and social distancing has been quite trying while economic difficulties made existing socioeconomic conditions even harder. As is well known, the federal government responded by way of the economic sustainability plan which focused on saving and creating businesses and jobs and also on boosting local production. So we've had a very impactful MSME survival fund, the agriculture for food and jobs program, the mass housing program and the rapid response register as well as the solar power Niger programs amongst other things. It can be said that the economic sustainability plan worked in the sense that the economy recovered from the recession occasioned by the pandemic quite early, but it must also be said that we are not yet out of the woods. Apart from the fact that GDP growth, the GDP growth rate of about 0.51% in the first quarter of 2021 is not yet at the level it was before the COVID-19 hit the economy. There's also the fact that the especially virulent Delta variant of the virus is causing serious problems already in other parts of the world and here we already are experiencing it in quite severe magnitudes. By yesterday there were about 500 and five new cases of COVID-19 representing an over 27% fold increase since the beginning of July. In Lagos state for instance the governor recently stated that the state has a daily average of six confirmed deaths which is a 33% increase in case fatalities from just the previous week. So some people have described the current wave as a pandemic of the unvaccinated in the sense that it's people who have not been vaccinated especially in the developed economies that are most seriously affected. But I think that as economic managers we are faced with two related challenges that must occupy our minds and which if we do not pay attention to may hinder our return to full and unhindered economic activity. First we must find the resources to procure and administer sufficient quantities of COVID-19 vaccines and actively encourage our people to get vaccinated to enable us as a country to reach herd immunity and of course to also observe all of the non-pharmaceutical interventions that are required to be safe wearing of masks and washing of hands etc and social distancing. Secondly we must ponder on ways and means of restoring and boosting local capacity to produce vaccinations not only for COVID-19 but for other diseases that continue to stop the land. As for security I will not dwell too long on that, only to say that the adverse effects on food production and on investments is obvious. The president has ordered a major overhaul of our security architecture and as you know barely 10 days ago he signed a supplementary budget and almost 700 billion Naira of that budget is dedicated to be tooling the military the police and intelligence services. Already we are aware of the substantial resources in men and materials that have been deployed by states to ensure security but as planners we are called upon to profile policy advice in these times and our emphasis must be on effective synergies with the federal government effective synergies of our security of all of our security architecture and our security proposals and ideas with the federal government. On climate change while it's generally agreed that Africa has contributed the least to global warming at least of the continents it's also by common consent expected to suffer the most from its consequences so we have contributed the least to global warming but we're going to be the worst hit by its effects. Indeed we recently saw extreme weather events such as severe flooding and heat waves in many parts of the world and of course severe flooding also in many parts of our country. This means that we must share in the responsibility of tackling climate change however global efforts to tackle climate change and ensure environmental sustainability will challenge us here in Nigeria in a number of ways and this is what I really would want us to pay attention to what are the challenges posed by the attempts of the international community to tackle global warming what are those challenges in Nigeria what what challenges will be posed to us quite evidently the global drive to reduce the use of fossil fuels the use of petrol and and gas to mitigate the rising global temperature will reduce the demand for our own oil and gas this will affect us because of our dependence on oil and gas for revenues and foreign exchange earnings so we really must begin to find alternative sources at the same time we have limited resources with which to finance the technological and lifestyle changes that are needed to adapt to climate change this means that the push by the multilateral finance institutions to defund oil and gas projects will be particularly hurtful to Nigeria this is more so in the case of gas because like other African countries we have tons of this transition fuel which is less polluting and which has a key role to help us to reduce the use of more carbon emitting substances like coal and firewood for cooking and this is why the president has continued to join other well-meaning leaders across the world to call for a just transition age and by just transition we mean that then when you are transiting from fossil fuels if you say that fossil fuels are not good coal is not good and we are transiting to cleaner fuels that transition must be just and equitable you must pay attention to poorer countries that have oil and gas and we must allow them to continue to use gas almost found gas projects as much as possible because it's a transition fuel and of course is better than the use of firewood etc. and so we must urge a standstill of the attempts to defund gas projects and the forthcoming 26 conference of parties of United Nations climate change conference or the COP26 in Glasgow given the vital role that we expect gas to play in our national development going forward the federal government introduced the national gas expansion program in the economic sustainability plan apart from the need to overcome the economic costs of the fuel subsidy by encouraging a shift to gas this fuel will also help to meet our other energy and transportation needs ranging from simple household cooking to power plants we also see renewable energy as part of the solution and this explains why we have the why we've been working on the provision of five million households with solar power under the solar power Niger scheme we've done that in already in a few places we've deployed about so far well over well I think we're looking at close to about 500,000 now we're going to continue to expand with the about two months ago we were in Khafanchan in sorry when Jigawa State and Kazahari local government where we launched the solar power Niger program and we think that this is going to be an effective way of mitigating some of the problems of climate change but more importantly also of providing jobs and opportunities in that sector for Nigerian for young Nigerians but also wonder also and I'm going now to the whole question of education and the fourth industrial revolution that those who wonder how a country like Nigeria will cope with the fourth industrial revolution given that we have struggled to catch up with even the second and third industrial revolutions there's also a fear that the steady march of artificial intelligence digital automation etc. will pose serious risks to jobs and existing production activities for instance apart from the fact that they mean that this will mean that we sell less oil it means that will be selling less oil for example electric cars are all coming into their own now several countries of the world are saying that by 2030 they would no longer use combustion engines they'll be using electric cars which means less petrol this may mean loss of millions of jobs also the use of robotics in manufacturing in finance and other processes 3d printing all of these are making inroads into manufacturing and building construction in developed countries but with serious implications for our own efforts to manufacture and to industrialize but I believe that the important thing for economic managers to stress at a time like this is that with adept planning we can leapfrog into the digital age well the answer to these issues is simple education education education especially basic education it is cantaloupe for us to be dealing with out-of-school children hundreds of thousands of out-of-school students it is purely scandalous we must put our resources into education and today we have no choice but to focus on relevant education education that will prepare our young people for 21st century jobs and opportunities and it's not that difficult that is the which is the good news it's not that difficult teaching coding in schools today teaching coding teaching digital skills in schools today is simpler and simpler every day and we can do it it's entirely possible but we require that we provide our young people with skills with some skills especially through STEM education science technology engineering and maths education and accompanying training in technical and vocational education at the same time we must find the resources to invest in technology and related broadband infrastructure if we are to help the budding technology ecosystem in our country to continue to excel this is why the federal government has been working assiduously with the African health member and other partners to launch the Nigeria innovation program which will be backed by a five hundred million dollar fund to support the technology and creative sectors of the economy we're going to very quickly to the African continental free trade area agreements this is another development with great promise for Nigeria's economic prospects but one which we have to be well prepared for first we must especially as sub-nationals as states take a more active interest in this agreement its implications and its opportunities for our different states the businesses and enterprises that will benefit or be at a disadvantage on account of the free trade agreements are in our states and this is why it is important that we recognize that we owe them we owe these businesses we owe these enterprises and our governments a duty to look out for their interests and one of the very critical things that we must continue to emphasize about the free trade agreements is that Nigeria is likely to be the biggest beneficiary and it will also be the biggest target for all sorts of unfair practices and this is why as planners we must take into account all that is going on about these agreements we must develop units in our planning in our planning ministries that are dedicated to looking at the African free trade agreements so that we are up to scratch on what is going on with those agreements and the negotiations and the impact that we'll have on our businesses our large-scale infrastructure projects in power in roads in rail and broadband connectivity will help us a great deal in this regard as our efforts to improve competition competitiveness by making our economy more business friendly I accept that there is no way we are going to be able to realize our aspirations without raising the resources needed for investments in production and infrastructure as well as the provision of social services and social protection however I must do this in ways that do not pose an undue burden on businesses and I would say that in their search for more internally generated revenue states should eliminate multiple levies and charges and ensure that those that remain are simple and collected in a transparent fair and seamless manner as numerous payment platforms have shown and today we have so many payment platforms if we deploy technology it can help us to remove discretion and human agency while making collections much much easier we must also support the ongoing efforts of the federal government to ensure broadband connectivity for all by 2023 this is an important part of our leap into the digital age everywhere in Nigeria we must have broadband connectivity but we cannot have broadband connectivity if states are charging those who are laying those cables or those who are those who are providing these services in a manner that discourages them from being able to lay those cables and to provide the connectivity that is required given that we live in challenging times it is quite fortuitous that we are just about to begin a new planning cycle in terms of success of frameworks to vision 2020 2020 and the economic recovery and growth plan and I'm sure that some of us are paying attention to what is going on to the efforts being made to for this success of plans for both the vision 2020 and the economic recovery and growth plan I expect that these documents will take account of the challenges we face in this era while addressing other existing developmental objectives such as ramping up production in agriculture manufacturing mining and services and increasing investments in physical and human capital and providing social protection for the vulnerable sections of our society as I said at your last meeting coordination is at the heart of economic management so it is pleasing that this National Council on Development planning provides an annual opportunity for an exchange of views by the federal and state level officials our programs must be aligned to maximize impact and prevent duplication and waste so I'm pleased to know that our planners are engaged with state governments in the drawing up of our new plans in addition I would urge state governments also to also strengthen their planning frameworks and embark on developing their own state visions and plans so as to guide investment decisions in the public and private sectors we are always prepared to offer whatever technical assistance the states may require in developing their own visions and plans and we have quite a bit of experience in doing so already going forward a common objective objective should remain to ride the crest of this current turbulent socioeconomic conditions in order to provide better and fuller lives and decent jobs for Nigerians especially our young people our challenge is not a simple one because we must generate growth we must eradicate poverty we must develop our human capital and must build up the infrastructural backbone for long-term development and we must do so in a sustainable manner it's however doable if we remain focused and we recommit to service with a sense of urgency it therefore goes without saying that all tiers of government must be open minded and collaborated in meeting our shared aspirations and positive that the deliberations of this council will contribute to achieving these noble objectives especially as we work together to achieve the target of lifting a hundred million Nigerians out of poverty over the next decade as I close I thank the organizing committee and other key stakeholders for their efforts to ensure the successful convening of this conference and I look forward to receiving the outcomes and to the presentation of the report of this 20th session of the LCTP to the next meeting of the National Economic Council it is now my very special pleasure to formally because I know you've been the sessions have begun declare open the 20th session of the National Council on Development Plan thank you all very much God bless you