On a Wednesday, just 26 days before his two terms in office
were set to end, Nigerian President
Muhammadu Buhari launched the Nigeria
Agenda 2050, a plan aimed at transforming the country’s economy and increasing
the real GDP growth rate by 7%. The plan also targets creating 165 million new
jobs and reducing the number of Nigerians living in poverty from 83 million in
2020 to 2.1 million in 2050.
The launch of the plan, which had been in development for
three years, took place just before the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC)
meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The document was approved by the
National Economic Council (NEC) three months prior to its launch.
The Nigeria Agenda 2050 aims to increase the country’s per
capita income to $33,328 per annum, making it one of the world’s top economies
by 2050. During the launch, President Buhari urged the incoming administration
to pay attention to the plan, stating that it was the product of a dynamic
knowledge-based economy and a means of achieving sustainable development in
Nigeria by 2050.
Buhari had earlier inaugurated the National Steering
Committee for the preparation of the Medium-Term National Development Plan 2021
– 2025 and Nigeria Agenda 2050 in November 2020. The plan’s overarching goal is
to elevate Nigeria to an Upper Middle-Income Country and ultimately to the
status of a High-Income country by 2050.
While Nigeria is home to several long-term policies, many
stakeholders have criticized the lack of implementation, as many of these
policies do not outlive the administrations that conceive and draft them.
Buhari expressed hope that the Nigeria Agenda 2050 would prove useful for
subsequent administrations, emphasizing the importance of implementing the plan
in order to achieve long-term economic growth and development for Nigeria.
