Renowned development economist, Professor Ken Ife has lauded the Minister for Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, for creating a bioeconomy and promoting synergy between ministries.

 

During the NTA Tuesday Live program on May 7, 2024, hosted by NTA's veteran journalist Cyril Stober, Professor Ken Ife alluded that the Minister has been humble about his achievements, notably in spearheading the creation of Nigeria's bioeconomy—an initiative which, he pointed out, breaks down silos between ministries, fostering collaboration for national progress.

"The minister is being modest though, he didn't want to talk about his own portfolio because he actually created what we call a bioeconomy. Nigeria operates in silos; all our ministries operate in silos. The bioeconomy was set up by this ministry, and then brought ministries working together to create a National b Bio-economy Framework, and then began to deliver projects together led by the ministry."

Prof. Ife went on to shed light on projects in the bioeconomic framework, which he pointed to include vaccine manufacturing support, cassava bioethanol value chain development, animal biotechnology advancement, and bio methanol production.

"There are four major things that they're doing: one, they supported the manufacturing of vaccines; six vaccines are going to be manufactured and money had been culled from Afreximbank. They supported cassava bioethanol value chain development. Cassava gives you 34 products, second level 200 products, and that is gaining traction there. Now you also have animal biotechnology, which is also led in that partnership with agriculture, pushing that far ahead. Then you now have the one on methanol, which is bio methanol, and that is science and technology."

The development expert cited the ministry’s efforts under the leadership of Senator Bagudu in driving innovation and shaping a new economic landscape by adopting a value chain approach and integrating various sectors.

“So you’ve got four different angles, where he’s pushing forward saying new economy is here. Let's get rid of our end to end intervention and bring value chain approach through this category we just described from cooperatives from micro build them to be.. and then that's that's how you create a brand new economy.”

Prof. Ken Ife is a seasoned global economic consultant, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker with over 30 years of experience holding expertise in macroeconomic policies, public policy analysis, and sustainable energy planning. He has advised organizations like the European Union and the World Bank and has served in advisory roles within the UK government.