The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, has revealed that the preparation of the 2016 budget is already running late.
Speaking yesterday at her formal assumption of duty at the ministry, Hajiya Ahmed said there was a lot of work to be done to put the budget together.
“The budget is late. Already, we have been told that the key priority that government needs to face now is to put our budget together. Every ministry has been given that directive and we are supposed to drive the process. We are supposed to start running, not walking, from day one,” she said
The minister said emphasis would be placed on projects that will have direct impact on the living condition of Nigerians, rather than on gigantic projects.
“We are in a position to implement a budget that will bring about results in the form of increase in employment and reduction of poverty,” she said.
Mrs Ahmed lamented that most of the country’s excellent plans had been sitting on the shelves because there was no budget to drive them.
She disclosed that the ministry would not be rolling out new plans, as it would rather be making inputs into previous good plans and ensure every project has direct impact on the lives of the citizens.
She warned that the ministry would not accept excuses from anybody in the tough job of moving the country forward.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, also remarked on duty assumption that the country and the economy are undergoing challenges that are, however, not, he assured, insurmountable.
“These are challenging times for the country, and challenging times for the economy. But we are confident that we can turn things around,” he said.
The former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, who was recently redeployed to the Ministry of Interior, Mr. Bassey Akpanyung, also handed over to the ministry’s new Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Fatima Nana Mede.
The new Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs. Mede, in her introductory remark, said that the Ministry of Budget and National Planning should naturally drive the nation’s economy.
She told the staff that in order to achieve that, “we must be epic civil servants.”
