Abuja — President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua last night subtly took issues with the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who said the government's seven-point Agenda needed to be narrowed down.

The government gave reasons why it could not cut down on the agenda, saying such would amount to committing economic suicide.

During his three-hour confirmation screening in the Senate last week, the new CBN governor had said the seven-point agenda could be refocused to two or three areas.

The seven-point agenda of the government focuses on power and energy, food security, wealth creation, transport sector, land reforms, security, and education.

But the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, who fielded questions from State House Corresp-ondents yesterday in Abuja, said Sanusi's statement, which he said was just a suggestion, should not be seen as an attack on the government's focal policy.

He, however, said the seven points in the agenda were interrelated and inter-independent and very crucial to the survival of the Nigerian economy in line with the Vision 20:2020 project.

The Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Remi Babalola, also said the seven-point agenda was vital to the transformation of the Nigerian economy.

He pointed out that the agenda was designed to enable the nation attain the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and actualise the Vision 20:2020, making the nation one of the world's 20 largest economies by 2020.

Advising the government to focus on power and infrastructure problems, Sanusi had said: "Until we address the infrastructure problem in this country we will not even begin to solve our problems. As a matter of fact my view is that in the seven-point agenda, if we could focus on two or three things and finish them within the next four years that would be a far more effective contribution to this country than focusing on the seven."

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, and secretaries to the government in the 36 states of the country had agreed with Sanusi, saying there was need for the policy to be prioritised.

The government scribes made the suggestion in a communiqué they issued at the end of their third biannual retreat held in Minna, Niger State capital.

Adeniyi said there was no way the government could concentrate only on power and infrastructure without gas, which is the Niger Delta element in the seven-point agenda, saying the power sector required adequate gas supply from the Niger Delta to function and without peace in the region gas could not be sourced.

"Fortunately, I watched the Senate proceedings of the confirmation of SLS as some people call the CBN Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, and I didn't see any area where he attacked President Yar'Adua's seven-point agenda as was imputed. All the items on the seven-point agenda are interrelated but if you check the 2009 Budget, those two areas highlighted account for more than 90 per cent of the spending. But even at that, paying more attention to power and infrastructure does not mean you have to neglect Niger-Delta because if you do that, the power agenda would be dead on arrival," he said.

The Presidential spokesman stressed that one of the critical challenges facing government today was gas and pipeline vandalism and that the Niger Delta was crucial to this, adding "you can also not ignore food security or even physical security so basically, the President and Mr. Sanusi are on the same page".

Adeniyi said: "I know that power is central to everything and so does the President and that is why he is taking the Niger Delta situation very seriously because without tackling that problem, we will not have power after we have made so much investment in turbines. With what is going on today, you cannot conclude that President Yar'Adua does not understand the importance of power and infrastructure but my own interpretation to what Mr. Sanusi said on the need to pay more attention to two items on the seven-point agenda would be that he was only expressing the mind of the President with whom he had had extensive discussions in the last couple of weeks."

According to Adeniyi, also critical is infrastructure, hence the recent contract for the rehabilitation and construction of several key roads across the country, awarded at the cost of about N140 billion, adding, "I am also aware that once the current negotiations with trailer owners who have about 3000 trailers along the Lagos-Ibadan highway are concluded, hopefully within the next few weeks, the company which recently won the concession of the Lagos-Ibadan highway will commence work and many others lined up for concession".

He cited the several million of naira spent on the growing of several thousands of trees planted along the present four-lane airport road in Abuja, a road originally planned for 10 lanes, now being mowed down by the contractors who won the bid to expand the road, as an example of huge wastage resulting from poor planning in the past, adding that the President would not allow such avoidable mistakes to repeat it self because "President Yar'Adua is a methodical person but I think Nigerians will ultimately appreciate his approach.

"The President said that at the time those trees were being planted many years ago and with probably billions of Naira spent to nurture them, someone must have known that the airport road was designed for ten lanes. Yet they erected NEPA poles and planted trees very close to the four-lane road such that to extend the road now, you had to cut down those beautiful trees and the power poles will have to be relocated. That episode alone tells a story about our nation," he lamented.

Adeniyi, therefore, stressed that given this experience, whatever the President does, there is much thought to it not only in terms of current challenges and prospects but also with regards to the future.

"Take the story of railway for instance; what government is doing now is to work on a PPP Model with General Electric and African Development Bank to ensure that by early 2011 at the latest, we will have railway services across the nation," he said.

Adeniyi disclosed "the dredging of River Niger which has been so much talked-about since independence will also be undertaken this year. The contractors have already mobilized to site and are just waiting for the water level to rise. The dredging will start next month with expectation that it will be completed before December".

According to him, "Last week the President held a meeting with the Governors of the eight states along the River Niger channel, which is more than 500 kilometres, that is Niger, Kogi, Edo, Delta, Anambra, Imo, Rivers and Bayelsa on the benefit derivable from the project not only to these states but the entire nation and West African sub-region".

Babalola, who fielded questions from newsmen at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on his way back from an official engagement in Lagos, reassured Nigerians of Federal Government's confidence and commitment in the seven-point agenda.

He specifically responded to the question as to whether the Federal Government would review or reduce the seven-point agenda in line with Sanusi's comments.

Babalola said the government would not reduce the seven-point agenda, while restating that it was an economic blue-print to transform the Nigerian economy.

According to him, the seven-point agenda was well conceptualised to transform Nigeria from poverty to prosperity, particularly in advancing the living conditions of Nigeria.

He said: "I am not sure that is what Sanusi (CBN Governor) meant. He was talking of focus and prioritization. The new CBN governor knows that the seven-point agenda presents a multi-pronged development platform.

"The issues and challenges are not mutually exclusive. No doubt, power sector is the number one priority of this administration. All resources are channeled to power sector solution. How do we attain the MDGs and the National Vision 2020 without focusing on human capital, national security, food security and wealth creation?"

Babalola disclosed that the Federal Government was focusing on infrastructural reforms in power sector through the development of sufficient and adequate power supply that would ensure Nigeria's ability to develop as a modern economy and an industrial nation by the year 2015.

He pointed out that physical infrastructure was a necessary condition for the attainment of the government's vision.

The minister said: "The bottom-line is transformation of poverty to prosperity. We are all on the same page on the welfare of Nigerians. The government has also already started the process of modernizing Nigeria by the ongoing rehabilitation and modernization of the railway."