Delta Beyond Oil Vision is on Course 17 Jul 2012 Font Size: a / A 170712T.Kenneth-Okpara.jpg - 170712T.Kenneth-Okpara.jpg Mr. Kenneth Okpara Delta State Government is diversifying its economy by developing other sectors of the economy to overcome poverty for sustainable growth in the state. The Commissioner for Economic Planning, Mr. Kenneth Okpara, spoke to Victor Efeizomor, on the steps government is taking to achieve this mission. Excerpts: Since you assumed office as the Commissioner for Economic planning, what are the measures you have put in place to give Delta State a sound economic direction? The economic planning ministry has ensured that the policy direction is well articulated, structured, made clear to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to ensure that there are no duplication, and sectoral policies and goals are aligned to the overall vision and goals. We have also provided guidance on the overall and sector strategies, improved the planning and budgeting process through a structured and robust inter-ministerial budget defense, which ensures for the first time in the history of the state, that its 2012 annual budget was presented and approved by the State’s House of Assembly before 2011 year end. This was a milestone achievement made possible with the support of the Governor and State House of Assembly. The ministry has also ensured prompt implementation of project and budget activities through the introduction of quarterly work/performance reporting, and quarterly release of funds in MDAs. The funds that were released late December 2011 to MDAs were utilised during the first quarter of 2012 for construction activities and these have increased the pace of economic activities and the pace of development in the state. A further release to MDAs was made in May 2012. The ministry also serves as the warehouse for the Economic Advisory Team, and the Economic Management Team. Both teams have provided the needed impetus to drive the economic growth of the state. It is also the seat for procurement reforms with improved engagement and collaboration with development partners like World Bank, UNDP, DfID, USAID, etc. One of the projects being undertaken by the UNDP and the State, the Egbokodo multi-purpose youth centre is about 95 per cent completed, it will be ready soon for training of youths on vocational skills. What are the steps the Delta State government has taken to ensure that its vision of ‘Delta state Beyond Oil’ is achievable? DeltaState’s economic development and its vision of ‘Delta State Beyond Oil’ is on course, we are leveraging our revenue from oil to diversify our economy to competitive manufacturing sector. This is the key for Delta State to overcome poverty and sustain economic growth. However, to achieve this vision, we have identified three key constraints, infrastructure inadequacy, inadequate application of good governance, and insecurity. We have also instituted the following major policy directions to mitigate these challenges. There is utilisation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and industrial clusters model, the utilisation of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to meet the limited resources envelop, engaging in institutional reforms and engaging in capacity building, vocational skill training, support schemes to students, employment creation activities and community- driven development projects. We have three SZEs, these are Koko Free Trade Zone (KFTZ), Warri Industrial Business Park (AICTP). Just as Cina who utilised this model successfully, the SEZs are playing a key role for economic reforms, for attracting foreign direct investment, for catalysing development of industrial clusters, and for attracting new technologies and adopting new management practices. They are all in development stages at the moment. Given our limited resources envelope, and the need to bring economic development quicker to the people of Delta State, the key sources to finance these SEZs are PPP, bonds and credit and loans. One of the major determinants of successful SEZs is how well it is integrated into other economic activities of the state, and also adequacy of off-site infrastructures. These are ongoing roads construction, provision of power (IPP in Oghara), provision of water, transportation, education and health facilities etc. Apart from oil, what other sector of the economy or investment opportunities is Delta State focusing on to drive the economy of the state? Apart from engagement in the oil industry, the other sector that has largest employment in Delta State, and also contributes to the economy is agriculture, as about 60 per cent of Deltans are engaged in agriculture. We are expanding the agriculture value chain to ensure that it moves to processing level and manufacturing. As part of the holistic and integrated economic development model being used by the state, our successful and award winning micro-credit programme identify and groom business starters, which includes farmers and entrepreneurs, gives them financial support and capacity building. These are then migrated and taken over by the state’s small and medium-scale enterprise (SMSs), giving financial supports, managerial skills training, organised into industrial clusters and cooperative, and eventually grows to form the industrial base of the state. Recently you produced a compendium called General Economic Atlas of Delta State, how is that expected to assist the economy of the state to grow? Yes, the General Economic Atlas of Delta State is a 456-page documentary. It is made up of 20 chapters, which includes the geography, politics, relief, climate, major occupations, economic development, communication, environment, human resources development and local government affairs in the state. This is the first time such a document that contains general information on Delta state, was produced since the creation of the state. It also highlights the state’s resources endowments in locations and spatial distribution. In addition, the Economic Atlas presents to policy makers and advisers, researchers and investors, a platform for decision on issues of infrastructures and material resources deployment and investments for optimum benefits. We have also developed a sectoral Business Cases Studies; the document is a seven-part document to showcase opportunities in the state. It is made up of studies carried out in the following sector, like macro-economic overview, investment opportunities, agric, energy information communication technology, manufacturing, new towns development, services and transport. You, see, in each of this sector brochure, there is the overview, background on Deltas state, sectoral composition, key investment opportunities and regulatory framework. However, this document is meant to meet the needs of all those investors, researchers, policy makers and friends of Delta State, who are desirous of engagements with us. When you assumed office last year as the Commissioner for Economic Planning, you discovered that the state’s GDP has not been computed for four years, what is the position now? Yes, that was a key issue when I assumed office, what happened along the line was that the Federal Government does not want states to be doing their own computation of their GDP because it could be influenced and investors may not have confidence in what is being developed by the states. The Federal government wanted a uniform measure of approach to computing the GDP and they now said for all the states in the Federation, a specific firm will carry out the computation, so they are doing stages, they have started with Lagos, they went to part of the North, they are in Rivers State, after that, they will come to Delta State. We have paid the central money to the Federal Government for that, so that is why we stopped the initiative of computing it from the ministry end. So I believe that Delta’s GDP will be done before the end of this year and after that we will make it public. How would you assess budget implementation in the Delta State government? We have made progress in budget implementation, we have quarterly report and we are reviewing it to see the performance the ministries to see if they have performed up to the benchmark; we are not looking at payments alone but physical progress. I think government is now open in term of development strides, the Governor goes out to do project monitoring, we have been able to achieve the completion of task, some of the projects are nearing completion, like the construction of roads, school, water boreholes, hospitals; they are all there for people to see. Development strides is not what you can see immediately in what we are doing now, so, we are starting on a new phase, that is Delta beyond oil, with the likes of Warri Industrial Park, Cocoa Free Trade Zone, Asaba ITC Centre, which is an indication that the future is bright, with the support we are getting from development partners, like World Bank. What I am saying is that the low-hanging fruits are the ones you are seeing now, so work is ongoing on some of the projects that were hitherto abandoned. What are the immediate future economic activities your ministry is embarking on to fast track the economic development of the state? You see, in line with the Governor’s commitment to excellence, he engaged the services of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, to develop a performance monitoring mechanism that will assist him to monitor and evaluate activities of ministries and agencies of government, as they key into the goals of his administration. The consultants have commenced work by engaging MDAs in information gathering to feed into the dashboard. When completed, the Ministry of Economic Planning is to manage the Economic Dashboard for use by the Governor. To this end, the staff members are being trained. Equally, it is Governor Emanuel Uduaghan’s desire that the state procurement process should meet international practice. In line with that, the State Government in 2010 invited the World Bank to appraise its procurement process with a view to recommending areas of improvement. The World Bank carried out a survey and came out with recommended actionable plan to improve on the State procurement regime. These recommendations were presented to government, who accepted them and thereafter, constituted a State committee on Public Procurement Reforms to implement them. The committee has commenced work and hopes to complete its assignment very soon. Also, in July, 2008, the Governor inaugurated the Delta State Vision 2020 Council and Steering Committee at Grand Hotel, Asaba, with a mandate to fashion out a long-term development plan for the State that is focused, realistic and relevant to the needs of the people. Membership of both organs included over 300 eminent Deltans drawn from both the public and private sectors as well as representatives of various organisations, unions and associations who worked to produce the Delta State Vision 2020 Plan in a bottom-up approach, supported by the Delta State Vision 2020 Secretariat domiciled in the Ministry of Economic Planning. Following the successful production of the Delta State Vision 2020 Plan, the next steps are launching of the Delta State Vision 2020 Plan, sensitisation of the public on the Vision through the mass media and road-shows to all 25 LGAs of the State. There will also be institutionalisation of a result–based Monitoring & Evaluation structure in relevant MDAs of the state, capacity building on budgeting and Delta State Vision 2020 Plan for members of the Legislature, the State Exco and key officials of MDAs and, publication of the Delta State Vision 2020 Quarterly Journal. It is important to state here that the Community Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (CEEDS) is another programme of the State government, whereby communities are encouraged to prepare a 4-year development plan for their communities containing prioritised micro projects they want executed for them. The objective is to generate income and employment to reduce rural poverty. While the State Government shall provide much of the funding, the communities are to contribute 5 per cent and take over the management of the projects on completion. In the four-year period, 2012 – 2015, a total of 55 projects are to be executed in eleven communities throughout the state in the pilot State. Going forward, the Government shall extend the CEEDS programme to more communities, until all communities in the State have at least one government project. To ensure prompt service delivery, business processes are tracked, this will eventually result in timely implementation of projects in Delta State. All the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) submit their memos to the Ministry of Economic Planning for analysis; appropriateness and adequacy of budget and documentation of activities.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Aug 2013 14:39:12 +0000
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