UN Warns Nigeria on Non-budgeted Economic Plans

                                                                  President Goodluck Jonathan

The United Nations has warned Nigeria not to embark on grandiose economic plans that are not budgeted for, stressing that operating the nation’s economy like that will take away the advantage, which the country derives from its massive human and material endowments.

Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary General, Prof. Jeffery Sachs said this  in Lagos while addressing a forum of key public and private sector players in the country.

“Do not emulate the United States where we make big plans without budgeting which has left us with huge deficits over the years.
You must implement your national budget with a plan. Integrating plans with budgets and putting it together in a Medium Term Frame Work is a sine qua non of development,” Sachs said.

The United Nation’s envoy advised the nation’s economic managers not to try to budget for the development of the entire needed infrastructure in the country; instead, he encouraged the government to take advantage of funds from foreign capital markets.

While declaring that Nigeria will be one of the most important nations in the world in the 21st century, he advised that leaders of the country must ensure that sustainable development with serious attention paid to the sanctity of the environment and ecology is the watch word.

“Please remember that climate change is real, it is coming and adds to the fragility. So, do not press against the limits of the ecology,” the UN envoy warned. He explained that the coming decade will be Nigeria’s greatest decade when the country would be the fastest growing economy in the world.

Listing the ingredients which Nigeria requires to attain its potential as one of the major economies of the world, he said there was serious need for planning. He said the nation and leaders of the private and public sectors must plan effectively and not surrender the fate of the nation’s economy to mere market forces.

Sachs also identified integrated urban and rural development which he said will lead to infrastructure enhancement, human capital development, job creation and therefore the overall development of the nation’s economy.

He also called for a national scale infrastructure development in the areas of road, power rail. “You need a full rail network to freight  goods and people in order to be able to take advantage of your size as a big country,” he stressed.

Maternal health and family planning was also identified as a step which the country needs to take to conquer its odds and become a leading nation in the global economy.

He said the nation needs to understand that serious planning would be required to manage a country whose current population is estimated to be about 158 million people and projected to rise to 158 million in 2030; 390 million in 2050 and 730 million in the year 2100.