Nigeria’s Vision 20: 2020
The Nigerian Vision 20:2020 (NV20:2020) is Nigeria’s long term development goal designed to propel the country to the league of the top 20 economies of the world by 2020 (NPC, 2011; Onyenekenwa, 2011). The vision Statement is as follows (NPC, 2011):
“By 2020, Nigeria will have a large, strong, diversified, sustainable and competitive economy that effectively harnesses the talents and energies of its people and responsibly exploits its natural endowments to guarantee a high standard of living and quality of life to its citizens”.
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Attainment of the Vision would enable the country achieve a high standard of living for its citizens. The NV20: 2020 was developed by Nigerians for the Nigerian people and involved a process of thorough engagement with all stakeholders across all levels of government and society. The Vision is therefore, a rallying point for all Nigerians, regardless of ethnicity, political leaning, economic status, or religion behind a common cause of placing the country on a sustainable development path and transformation into a modern society better able to play a greater role in the committee of nations (NPC, 2011). The Vision will be pursued through a series of three – four year plan which will further articulate the strategies, policies, projects and programmes among other things.
Objectives of the NV 20:2020?
The two broad objectives are to (NPC, 2011):
1. Make efficient use of human and natural resources to achieve rapid economic growth
2. Translate the economic growth into equitable social development for all citizens.
The development aspirations cut across four dimensions (NPC, 2011):
1. Social – building a peaceful, equitable, harmonious and just society;
2. Economic – developing a globally competitive economy;
3. Institutional – having a stable and functional democracy; and
4. Environmental – achieving a sustainable management of the nation’s natural resources.
Why vision:20:2020?
Vision 20:2020 is important for the following reasons (NPC, 2011):
(1) The Need for Nigeria to plan development on a long-term basis in order to achieve structural transformation;
(2) The Need to reduce the country’s overdependence on oil;
(3) The Need to effectively transform the lives of Nigerians in terms of significant improvements in their standards of living; and
(4) The Need for the country to take its rightful position among the nations of the world
Necessary actions to be taken to achieve the vision
Specific steps or actions must be taken in order to realize the vision. These steps include (NPC, 2011):
(1) Steps to urgently address the most serious constraints to Nigeria’s growth and competitiveness. The domestic and external constraints that have been identified as hindrances to achieving the vision include (NPC, 2011):
(a) Poor and decaying infrastructure
(b) Epileptic power supply
(c) Weak fiscal and monetary policy co-ordination
(d) Fiscal dominance and its implications for inflation and private sector financing
(e) Pervasive rent-seeking behavior by private and public agents, including corruption
(f) Weak institutions and regulatory deficit
(g) Policy reversals and lack of follow-through
(h) Inordinate dependence on the oil sector for government revenue/expenditure
(i) Disconnect between the financial sector and the real sector
(j) High population growth which places undue stress on basic life- sustaining resources and eventually results in diminished well-being and quality of life.
(k) Insecurity of lives and property
(l) Threats of climate change, especially in relation to food production
(m) Vulnerabilities in the global economic environment, in particular, the global economic crisis and disturbances in the international oil market.
(2) Aggressively pursue a structural transformation of the economy from a mono-product to a diversified and industrialized economy.
(3) Investing in human capital to transform the Nigerian people into active agents for growth and national development.