Developing planning focuses on unlocking the potential of a country in all sectors of the economy to ensure a sustainable, holistic, and inclusive national development. The importance of development planning in Nigeria cuts across regional development, social development, human capital development, public administration, infrastructure, and economic growth and development. This article will highlight the importance of development planning in Nigeria.
The importance of development planning in Nigeria will be discussed below:
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Viable Response to Macroeconomic Challenges
Development planning serves as a viable response in times of macroeconomic challenges in Nigeria. In recent memory, two development plans – Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and Economic Sustainable Plan (ESP) – were implemented to correct serious macroeconomic challenges suffered by the country. The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) was designed to restore economic growth in Nigeria following the economic recession experienced in the last phase of the Vision 20:2020 Economic Transformation Blueprint. The development planning measures of the ERGP sought to restore economic growth through concentric economic diversification, investment in social inclusion, job creation, youth, and empowerment, as well as investment in infrastructure and business environment. Although the adverse effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the crude oil market and foreign exchange earnings made the growth performance fall below the ERGP’s target, the development plan achieved considerable positive trends for the greater part of the period it ran.
Likewise, the Economic Sustainable Plan (ESP) was a robust and well-articulated development plan intended to revitalize the Nigerian economy from the negative impact of Covid-19. With N2 3 trillion earmarked for the ESP, several projects, policies, and measures of this transition plan (between ERGP and National Development Plan), the Economic Sustainable Plan prevented a potentially deep recession and expedited quick recovery of the economy.
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Contribution to Women and Gender Equity
In Nigeria, girls and women make up about half of the entire population. Sadly, women in Nigeria just own 10% of the entire resources. The maternal mortality rate in Nigeria has risen to 917 out of every 100,000, which ranks among the highest in Nigeria. Patriarchal norms, the low political representation of women, and the high prevalence of child marriage are some factors that hinder the full participation of women in the Nigerian economy.
To bring about inclusive growth, improve gender parity, and reduce gender-based violence in Nigeria, the National Development Plan, 2021-2025, has been implemented to achieve these goals. For four years which the National Development Plan will run, N108bn has been allocated to support the economic empowerment of women, track gender-related data, implement policies to prevent gender-based violence, support victims of gender-based violence, and facilitate the mainstreaming of gender issues in existing policies. These actionable interventions for women will contribute to the country’s economic development and competitiveness, stimulate increased female participation, as well improve economic growth and employment.
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Fosters Sustainable Population Management and Robust National ID Management System
Currently, at over 200 million in population, and a growth rate of 2.6, it is projected to reach 400 million by 2050. The rapid growth of Nigeria’s population has put a strain on the country’s resources and poses risks to realizing the much desired demographic dividend. Also, a large chunk of the population (about 100 million) does not have valid national identities. In addition to the population explosion, is the increased rural-urban population shifts. Without adequate development planning directed towards sustainable population management and a robust national ID management system, it would be difficult for the country to reduce population growth, reduce rural-urban migration and close the gap of data required for inclusive national development planning.
To this end, using the modalities of the National Development Plan, the government has spelled out strategies to reduce population growth, conduct credible population census, slow down rural-urban migration, and ensure that citizens and foreigners alike have national identities and unique IDs respectively.
The National Development Plan employs strategies such as the strengthening of population management systems by increasing awareness and access to family planning; strengthening current ID management systems, and introducing measures to contain rural-urban migration by providing economic opportunities in the rural areas, as well as infrastructural developments in the urban centres.
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Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection
Poverty reduction has been at the core of various development plans in Nigeria, with several distributive social programs rolled out by the government to support the poor and the most vulnerable Nigerians. Past development plans had created job creation initiatives such as the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which rolled out the Social Protection Policy framework, National Social Safety Net Program (NSSNP), National Conditional Cash Transfer Program, National Social Investment Program (NSIP) and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program (GEEP), which were directed towards Nigerians living in the most precarious conditions.
These policies, though well-meaning in their rights, didn’t significantly reduce the poverty rate as they weren’t complemented by robust safety nets. This led to the creation of the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy, 2021. At present, the National Development Plan, in line with the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy, builds on the existing social protection framework, with a Social Investment Fund of N5.4 trillion from 2021 to 2025, which will be allocated across many ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) in Nigeria, aimed at ensuring that the most vulnerable members of the society are empowered and share in the country’s prosperity, through well-articulated strategies.
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Facilitates Employment and Job Creation
Nigeria has been faced with acute unemployment and underemployment which thus reduces the productive force for growth and poverty reduction in the country. Several development plans have put considerable emphasis on job creation over the past years. The National Development Plan is presently focused on job creation and employment to tackle the surging number of unemployed and underemployed Nigerians. The NDP seeks to do this through strategies that include but are not limited to creating intersectoral linkages to unlock the potential of high-growth sectors which are capable of creating millions of jobs, eliminating practices that pose danger to revenue generation through decent work, promoting technical education and training (TVET), and supporting MSMEs business viability to spur job creation, among others.