Abia State Government has announced that its 25-year development plan has been strengthened with Legislative backing to ensure continuity across successive administrations.
The Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mr Kingsley Anosike, disclosed this on Monday while briefing Journalists on the outcome of this Week’s Executive Council Meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.
The Commissioner noted that the Legal Framework marks a major departure from the previous administration’s 30-year development plan, which he said, lacked Statutory Protection.
Anosike explained that the new legal seal would require any future review of the blueprint to pass through the same legislative process, thereby safeguarding the plan from abrupt abandonment or alterations.
“Why this development plan is different is that it is going to be backed by legislation. The Legislatures are going to put a seal on this plan, warranting that any future review would have to pass through the same process of legislation, that is what is different.
“So this is not just a plan; it is a plan that has been formatted for the future”,he said.
According to the Commissioner, the revised document became necessary because the original 2020 plan was heavily shaped by the uncertainties of the COVID-19 era and no longer reflected present economic realities.
He said the present Government undertook the review to correct gaps in the original 2020 plan, which he described as heavily influenced by the global pandemic.
“Recall that in 2020 the then administration had a 30-year plan that extends to 2050; so when this administration came on board, they constituted a team to review the plan.
The reason for the review is simple, and it is that the plan in 2020 was a COVID-driven plan.
“If you recall, there was this disease that shook the world in 2019 and in 2020, the entire world was still recovering from that situation.
“So plans written from that period onwards were written considering the present of the situation and everybody thought the world was coming to an end.
“Now, it is not a jettison of the plan; It is a review of the plan because between 2020 and 2025, five years stretch of economic activities, economic turbulence and everything happening in the world.
“Any serious administration would want to look at the indices, the framework of whatever the development plan is and realign it to current reality and that is what this administration has done,”he said.
The Commissioner further stated that the review was carried out in collaboration with major international development organisations to produce a more robust and future-proof plan.
He listed the Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), PACE, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as key partners in the process.
Mr Anosike added that the improved document was designed to survive political transitions and address the common challenge of new administrations discarding the policy frameworks of their predecessors.
Also, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, revealed that the State Government will formally unveil the 25-year development plan on 16 December.
He described the forthcoming presentation as a milestone achievement and one of the most significant legacy projects of the Otti administration.
Prince Kanu said the plan sets out a deliberate and long-term roadmap for economic resilience, infrastructure expansion, social progress and generational security for Abia State.
According to the Commissioner, the blueprint focuses on six strategic pillars including people and resources, growth and stability, sustainable economy, social infrastructure and inclusion, governance and reform, and cross-sector linkages.
He added that its implementation would promote transparency, citizen participation and a climate-resilient, inclusive economy capable of attracting global investment.
Kanu expressed confidence that the future-ready plan, if faithfully executed, would position Abia among the leading states in Nigeria in terms of economic wellbeing and development.
