Buhari
Nigeria’s President will inaugurate the National Economic Reconstruction and Growth plan in December, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, has said.
Udoma, who disclosed this at a National Economic Retreat in Abuja on Thursday, stated that the plan is in furtherance of the Federal Government’s efforts to reposition the country towards sustainable growth.
According to the minister, the retreat is intended to provide an opportunity for stakeholders from the various sectors of the economy to consult and exchange views on the medium term economic plan for the country.
He said the economic recovery plan would be a detailed document that would bring together various plans put together by the Economic Management Team.
The various plans include the Strategic Implementation Plan from which the Medium Term Expenditure and Fiscal Strategy Paper was developed, and the Medium Term Sector Strategies (MTSS).
Udoma said as soon as the consultations with stakeholders were concluded, the economic team would receive inputs from the National Assembly.
It is also expected that other development partners will be consulted before the inauguration of the final document by the President in December.
“The whole of the economic team has been working very hard since we released the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP).
“On the basis of SIP, we developed MTEF. We also developed MTSS for large spending ministries.
“Our intention now is to bring all these works together as part of a comprehensive medium term plan. As President Buhari has promised, this last stage will involve extensive consultations.
“It is one of a number of consultations we will have before we launch the plan.
“We shall hold consultations with the states, our development partners, and the National Assembly,” he said.
Udoma said the ministry had developed sectoral plans in five thematic areas as part of the economic recovery plan.
They are macroeconomic stability, where the focus would be on fiscal and monetary condition, low inflation, stable exchange rate and strong economic growth; economic diversification and building competitiveness in the private sector.
Others are job creation and social inclusion; governance (such as security); and human capital.
“We are emphasizing jobs and social inclusion because of the need for direct interventions to create jobs while tackling poverty and inequality,’’ he added.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Ibe Kachikwu; Minister of State for Budget and National, Mrs Zainab Ahmed; and the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs Sarah Aladdin were some of the key personalities at the retreat.
