The Federal Government has disclosed that it had secured a total investment commitment worth $22.5bn from the private sector through the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan Focus Labs.

Speaking at Open Day of the focus labs of the ERGP in Abuja Vice President Yemi Osinbajo noted that during the six weeks of conducting the focus labs under the ERGP, officials of government had 20 syndicate meetings with 300 participants from 180 organisations.

The focus labs of the ERGP were inaugurated on March 13, 2018 to accelerate investments into key sectors of the economy by forcing key stakeholders to work together in an intensive environment with specific deliverables and timelines.

The objective is to mobilise at least $25bn in private investments into three selected areas of agriculture and transport, manufacturing and processing, and power and gas.

The outcome of these, he noted, was that a commitment of $22.5bn was made by private sector investors on 164 projects spread across the six geo-political zones of the country.

These, according to him, are expected to create 513,981 jobs for the country by 2020.

He said, “From the regular updates presented to me throughout the six weeks’ duration and my personal visit to the lab, the lab will achieve what it is set out to do. That is to provide a platform where the private sector will have direct access to regulators, government officials and relevant cabinet ministers in a single location to resolve regulator or bureaucratic delays inhibiting their businesses.

“Following the six weeks, we, as a government, are clearer today as to what we can do to remove the regulatory and bureaucratic bottlenecks within the ambits of the law. The ERGP Focus Labs have succeeded in identifying $22.5bn in private investments from about 164 projects