The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Minister of Budget and National Planning

  • FG’s five economic recovery plans

    FG’s five economic recovery plans

    The ‎Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, on Wednesday, said that the current recession in the country will end before this year runs out.

    According to him, the yet to be passed 2017 Budget has been structured to achieve the goal.

    “The five priorities areas that we have are:[quote font_size=”20″ color=”#000000″ bgcolor=”#c2d631″ bcolor=”#dd3333″ arrow=”yes”]

    • Stabilising the microeconomic environment.
    • Achieving agriculture and food security.
    • Ensuring energy sufficiency – power as well as petroleum products.
    • Improving transportation infrastructure and,
    • Driving industrialisation focusing on small and medium scale enterprises.”

    [/quote]

    [news_box style=”2″ display=”tag” tag=”Recession” count=”6″ show_more=”on”]

  • Economic Recovery Plan, ready in February – FG

    Economic Recovery Plan, ready in February – FG

    The Federal Government’s anticipated National Economic Recovery Growth Plan (NERGP) will be ready before the end of February, an official statement has stated.

    The NERGP, focuses on five broad areas namely: macroeconomic policy, economic diversification and growth drivers, competitiveness, social inclusion and jobs, and governance and other enablers.

    Government, through the plan, is targeting a growth rate of seven per cent between 2017 and 2020.

    This is according to a statement issued by Mr Akpandem James, the Media Adviser to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma on Friday in Abuja.

    It stated that the plan is expected to be formally launched by President Mohammadu Buhari.

    It said before the launch, the Federal Government plans to brainstorm with economic experts from the private sector before finalising its development process.

    Apart from economic experts, the organised private sector, civil society groups, the academia and State governments will also be consulted.

    “This is expected to enrich the Plan development process.

    “The Forum, scheduled for noon of Monday, February 6, 2017, is expected to be chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    “The NERGP is a follow-up to the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) which was a short term economic plan to drive the implementation of the 2016 Budget.

    “In the SIP, government promised that it would deliver a more comprehensive economic recovery and growth Plan subsequently,’’ it stated.

    According to the statement, the plan aims to address current economic challenges, restore growth, and reposition the economy for sustained inclusive growth.

    “It is principally targeted at getting the economy out of recession, getting people back to work and moving the country from a consuming nation to a producing nation.

    “It also aims at providing an environment for ease of doing business and creating jobs, among others.

    “Implementation of the plan will be driven by strong political will and strong collaboration between the public and private sectors especially in the areas of Agriculture, Manufacturing, Solid Minerals, Services and Infrastructure.

    The statement stated that 59 strategies have been developed, out of which 12 have been prioritised based on their importance to the success of the plan.

    It listed priority areas to include restoring oil production to 2.2 million barrels per day and also reach 2.5 million barrels by 2020, privatise selected assets, accelerate non-oil revenue generation and drastically cut costs.

    The statement further stated that Government also plans to align monetary, trade and fiscal policies, expand infrastructure especially power, roads and rail, revamp the four existing refineries and improve ease of doing business.

    It said policies that promote Made-in-Nigeria goods will also be introduced.

  • Senate faults Buhari’s MTEF

    Senate faults Buhari’s MTEF

    …Says proposal ‘empty’

     

    Barely two days after it rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s bid to borrow $29.96 billion, the Senate Thursday faulted the president’s 2017 to 2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).

    The upper chamber described the fiscal document which is a prelude to the presentation of the 2017 budget as “completely empty” not worthy of its consideration.

    Senate Leader, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, who tore the document into shreds, drew the attention of the Senate to a publication where the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma reportedly blamed the National Assembly for the inability of the Presidency to present the 2017 budget in October 2016 as promised.

    Ndume who relied on Order 42 and 52 of the Senate Standing Rules, prayed the Senate to resolve to call Udoma to order.

    He noted that it was unfortunate that the Presidency had started once again the blame game that rubbished the 2016 budget.

    He said that it was wrong for the Presidency to give Nigerians the impression that the National Assembly was responsible for the avoidable delay in presentation of the 2017 budget especially when it was obvious that the MTEF submitted to the National Assembly was empty.

    The Senate Leader noted that when the leadership of the Senate discovered that the MTEF was empty, Udoma was invited to brief the leadership on grey areas of the MTEF/FSP on Tuesday.

    He said that the Senate leadership was stunned when Udoma failed to honour the invitation.

    He also said that the minister failed to submit vital documents the Senate requested from him.

    The Senate Leader who displayed a copy of the MTEF repeatedly said furiously,“ this document is empty, it is completely empty and you cannot build something on nothing.”

    Ndume said, “The report with the headline which says, “Budget 2017: Blame National Assembly for failure to meet to meet October target”.

    “The Minister of Budget and National Planning Udoma Udoma stated that the suspension of the debate of the MTEF/FSP which lays the foundation for the budget has stalled the Ministry’s plan to transmit the 2017 budget to the National Assembly.

    “As the Leader of this Senate and I am responsible for presenting communications, bills from the Executive. You will recall that we received the MTEF on 30th September. Instead of submitting it according to law not later than 1st of September, that is not even the problem.

    “I went through and the copies have been circulated. I talked to some experts. Even in this chamber, we have people that you can call experts. If you look at this document that they call MTEF, it is empty. And it doesn’t contain anything. If you have nothing how do you consider nothing?

    “Going through and knowing that it is empty, on October 19, 2016 I wrote to the Minister of Budget and National Planning. I crave your indulgence to highlight some of the contents and in the third paragraph, I stated: “To enable the Senate objectively review the MTEF from holistic perspective, we deem it necessary to invite you to a meeting to brief the leadership of the Senate on Tuesday 1st November. The minister failed to turn up.

    “Before then, I said you are requested to please send the following documents ahead of the meeting because that is what will make us have something to consider: draft copy of Medium Term Development Plan upon which the 2017 to 2019 MTEF is founded.

    “Secondly, I requested that a comprehensive report on the implementation of 2016 budget as of third quarter. And thirdly, fiscal rates taxes, charges etc used to derive the projected revenue.

    “Finally, a report on the structure, composition of the debt, funding, sources, how the borrowed funds are to be spent as well as repayment plan and schedule.

    “Up till now, there is no communication to that.

    “Finally, I have a copy of the request for approval of the Federal Government 2016 to 2018 external borrowing plan, which was thrown out last.

    “This is the document that we received. The first paragraph says: “I wish to refer to the above subject and submit the attached draft of Federal Government 2016-2018 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan for consideration and early approval by the National Assembly to ensure prompt implementation of the projects”.

    “I don’t know whether the Senate President has the attached document that you did not circulate to us. But as far as I’m concerned there is no attachment here.

    “We cannot afford to start the 2017 budget process with this blame game. This Senate is Nigerian Senate. We have the opposition that is co-operating with us and we have the majority in this Senate.

    “So, it is not like we are working against the government but we know what we are doing. And we should do it right. When they bring nothing and we ask for something so that we will do it properly, they run to the newspaper to start blaming the National Assembly.”

    Also a copy of the letter dated October 19, 2016, and signed by the Leader of the Senate, Senator  Ndume, requested Udoma to submit some documents before the scheduled date of briefing the Senate leadership.

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who appeared not to have found the unfolding development funny, informed the Senate that he personally called Udoma over the issue.

    Saraki said that the Minister has denied blaming the National Assembly for the delay in presenting the 2017 budget.

    He said that the Senate should be mindful of issues that could breed controversy ahead of the presentation of the 2017 budget.

    Saraki said, “I saw this article too. I had taken up the Minister and he denied the article. He said he was going to debunk it. Be that as it may, I think the matter should not be stressed.

    “The Leader has made the point that this issue of blame game is totally unnecessary. And if he (Udoma) said that he is withdrawing, that means he has said it as well that the National Assembly is not responsible for any delay.”

    Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, assured that the National Assembly was ready to receive the 2017 budget from the Presidency any day.

    Ekweremadu said, “Now that the statement has either been denied or withdrawn, we need to tell Nigerians the truth. We are here on a full job. We are ready to take the budget presentation anytime. In doing so, the executive must be reminded that everything must be done right. All arms of government must live to its responsibility. The issue of blame game should be put behind us.”

    Senate spokesperson, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi on his part, wondered “if this government is not padded with people who want to frustrate the government.”

    Senator Abdullahi also warned about the danger of starting the 2017 budget with controversy.

  • No plan to sell any asset now, says FG

    No plan to sell any asset now, says FG

    The federal government Tuesday said it has not taken any decision to sell any national asset.

    Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma appealed to those opposed to the planned sale of some national assets to exercise patience with the government “as the government is yet to decide on assets sale in its stimulus package.”

    Udoma made the disclosure in Abuja at the 57th Annual Conference of the  Nigerian Economic Society (NES) where he stated that the idea of selling national assets “is just a proposal within the stimulus package of the federal government to scale up revenue but is yet to be finalised or even agreed on.”

    The budget and national planning minister said government will consult widely and hear views on the cost and benefit of the planned sale before any such decision will be made.

    He said the administration has several packages and plans that will ensure that Nigeria comes out of the current recession soon and stronger. One of such packages he noted is the stimulus plan to borrow from the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and the China Exim Bank.

    Udoma said that the stimulus package was being worked upon and was yet to be finalised, adding that to achieve this speedily “we are working to fast track procedures through presidential directives and legislation and I want to emphasis that notwithstanding the current economic challenges we face, we are not discouraged at all and this is a crisis we must not waste.”

    The minister lamented that Nigeria’s foreign reserves had shrunk from $26.51 billion from the second quarter of 2016 to $24.74 billion in September.

    Udoma said that government was working on a programme with the private sector to launch made in Nigeria campaign. He said the intent of the programme was to encourage more production and consumption of made in Nigeria goods and services.

    According him, “we believe that with more patronage Nigerian producers will be encouraged to improve the quality of their products. We should encourage the branding of Nigerian products by self-regulatory industry bodies such as wine makers have in France. Made in Nigeria should become a badge of quality.

    The minister added that “as the quality of our goods and service improve, both local and international demand for them will increase and high local demand would give Nigerian producers the platform to explore the export market.

    He said one of the fastest routes to grow the economy and create jobs for teeming population was by pursuing export-led growth. The Minister said that this strategy holds high promise for adding to our foreign reserves and further stabilising the Naira.

    He urged Nigerians to “see this crisis as an opportunity for us as a country to make those major structural changes needed to change this economy for good. We should use this crisis to implement the reforms needed to unlock the economic potentials of the non-oil and high employment sectors.”

     

  • NES 22: Group holds world press conference

    NES 22: Group holds world press conference

    • 22nd Summit to focus on ‘Made in Nigeria’

    The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) on Friday highlighted the need to embrace self-sufficiency as a viable alternative to improve Nigeria’s dwindling economy.

    The Group made the call during a press conference organised in Lagos to announce the 22nnd Nigerian Economic Summit, aptly themed: ‘Made in Nigeria’, scheduled to hold from the 10th to 12th October at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

    Speaking on the importance of the Nigerian Economic Summit, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma Udo, disclosed that the Nigerian Economic Summit has become the largest and foremost annual convergence for public and private sector policy makers and industry leaders in Nigeria.

    Udoma assured that the 22nd Nigerian Economic Summit will encourage more production and consumption of Made in Nigeria goods and services. “We believe that with more patronage Nigerian producers will be encouraged to improve the quality of their products. As the quality of our goods and services improve, international demand for them will increase. There is no doubt that the fastest route to grow our economy and to create jobs for our teeming population is by pursuing export led growth. Export led growth will add to our foreign reserves and stabilize the Naira,” he added.

    Explaining the rationale behind the made in theme “Made in Nigeria” CEO, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Mr Jaiyeola Laoye, described the Made in Nigeria initiative as an economic growth and development strategy for Nigeria’s short, medium and long term development. Jaiyeola explained that Nigeria’s status as an import dependent and a huge consumption economy has led to negative economic growth, dwindling foreign reserves, and pressure on local currency exchange rate relative to major currencies.

    Commenting on the rationale behind the theme ‘Made in Nigeria’, Jaiyeola maintained that the theme is not only necessary and timely, but will also be used to embody the imperative to commit to the structural and fiscal changes required to strengthen the Nigerian economy.

    “Past editions of the Nigerian Economic Summit have made recommendations on self-sufficiency in local production and an export-driven economy. With our current economic realities, the NESG realises that this is the perfect opportunity to articulate a national discussion on ‘Made in Nigeria’ to promote the goods and services that are already up to standards for consumption, encourage exports and increase opportunities for SMEs”. He added.

    Setting an agenda for the summit, foremost business consultant, financial analyst and columnist Opeyemi Agbaje, CEO, RTC Advisory Services Limited, commended the choice of this year’s theme, describing it as a step in the right direction, as long as the sentiments are objectively articulated.

    Opeyemi observed that the country still needs to work on getting its policies right “For me, we still have to get our policies right, for example, there should be discussions about attracting investors, which I would love to see addressed at the summit, secondly the foreign exchange conundrum needs to be fine-tuned.”

    “We have spoken extensively on oil dependence, but I say that, Nigeria’s economy is diversified, since the contribution of the oil sector is reducing drastically as we have seen non-oil sector make significant contributions to the country’s GDP. However, Made in Nigeria for me means a very strong domestic non-oil sector, which comprises agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, education and other industries in Nigeria, exporting to the world.  So in the end, we don’t just stop importing, but we ensure to sell our made in Nigeria product, services and ideas to the world” He concluded.

    The 2016 Nigerian Economic Summit, NES #22 will provide a platform to sharpen the focus on the need for Nigeria to embrace the Made in Nigeria initiative by working out strategies to achieve self-sufficiency and value-addition capacities for several products and services in the shortest possible time. NES #22 will also facilitate stakeholders’ discussions/agreements on the practical issues, opportunities, policies and regulations needed for ‘Made in Nigeria’ to become an economic growth and development agenda.

     

  • Recession: Governors defend Udoma, Adeosun

    Recession: Governors defend Udoma, Adeosun

    Governors on Thursday passed a vote of confidence on the Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and her counterpart, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma concerning the accusation from the National Assembly over the current economic crisis that the country is in.

    The Governors argued that the Ministers were not responsible for plunging the country into economic recession.

    The implications of this is that the National Assembly’s call for the removal of the two ministers, whom they accused of not knowing what to do in order to bail the nation out of the economic straits, remains invalid.

    In a clearly stated confidence on the two ministers, the governors absolved the duo of any blame in the declining economic situation during the meeting of the National Economic Council, NEC, presided over by Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, at the State House.

    According to the governors, if at all anything should be said to both Ministers, the duo deserved commendations for their sensitive insight in reviving the ailing economy occasioned by falling oil price, Nigeria’s major income earner, over the years.

  •  Nigeria, China sign N400m agreement on FCT projects

     Nigeria, China sign N400m agreement on FCT projects

    Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China on Monday signed a bilateral agreement of over eight million China’s Yuan (about 400 million naira) for various projects in the FCT.

    The projects were feasibility studies of the second phase of the Abuja Solar Powered Traffic Control Signal, Agricultural Demonstration Centre and the 2016 Bilateral Training Programmes.

    This is contained in a statement issued by Mr James Akpandem, Media Adviser to Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and National Planning in Abuja.

    “The agreement was signed at the sixth session of the Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation Joint Commission meeting in Abuja.

    “The agreement is a prelude to Chinese government’s full involvement in the projects once they are certified feasible.

    “The project will be funded through gratis assistance as part of the 2012 Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement between the two governments,” the statement said.

    It said Udoma signed on behalf of the Federal Government while China’s Vice Minister of Commerce, Mr Qian Keming, signed on behalf of the People’s Republic of China.

    “RMB Yuan 6,000,000.00 is allocated for training programmes; the Agricultural Centre is allocated RMB Yuan 1,000,000.00, while the solar project study has RMB Yuan 1,200,000.00.

    “Since the last Joint Commission Session held in Beijing, China, in 2009, the relationship between the two countries has further deepened with increased trade, investments and technical activities.

    “This raised the volume of trade from U.S.$6.37 billion in 2009 to U.S.$14.94 billion in 2015.”

    It said that the sixth Ministerial Conference of the Forum of China-African Cooperation, South Africa in 2015, identified 10 critical areas of cooperation.

    “The visit to China by President Muhammadu Buhari early this year further bolstered Nigeria’s participation in the 10 focal areas.

    “These areas involve Industrialisation, Agricultural Modernisation, Infrastructure Development, Financial Cooperation, Green Development, Trade and Investment Facilitation, Poverty Reduction, Public Health, Cultural and People-to-People Exchange and Peace and Security.”

    It quoted Udoma as soliciting China’s assistance for the completion of the Abuja Light Rail project and the Greater Abuja Water Works project, which had been presented for funding through concessionary loan.

    The minster drew attention to the imbalance in trade relations between the two countries and emphasised the need to bridge the gap for the sustainability of the cooperation framework.

    Udoma also called on the Chinese Government to reduce the high tariff on agricultural exports from Nigeria which currently stood at five per cent.

    According to it, a reduced tariff is capable of narrowing the trade imbalance between the two countries, which averaged at U.S.5.9 billion dollars in the last five years.

    The statement quoted Qian as promising that the Chinese government would do everything possible to enhance the relationship between both countries to ensure timely completion of all the projects.

  • Due process stalling release of N350 billion – Minister

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma on Wednesday said that Due Process is mainly working against the release of N350 billion planned to reflate the Nigeria economy.

    Before the 2016 Appropriation bill was assented into law, the government had announced its plans to inject the money into the economy.

    But speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, Udoma said that there is now need to fast track the processes hindering the releases.

    He was accompanied to the briefing by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed.

    According to him, Nigerians will start to feel the impact of the 2016 Budget from the 3rd quarter of this year.

    The Minister also disclosed that Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been urged in Council to fast-track the processes for the capital budgets in order to quickly reflate the economy.

    He said: “As far as the N350 billion which was indicated, the money is available but there is a process and this is part of the reasons we briefed council and there is need to fast track those processes so that very soon most of those monies will be released. We expect in the Ministry of works, they should have quite substantial release in the next week or so.

    “It’s easier for us for existing projects but new projects are a bit more difficult because of the public procurement. The public procurement you have to advertise and you have to wait for six weeks and so on. So new project will take a bit longer.

    “But existing projects that have already gone through the public procurement process‎ will be faster and I believe that you will soon start seeing the impact of those releases.” He said

    On whether no kobo has been released from the N350 billion, he said: “I didn’t say that but I said you will be seeing a lot more releases.”

    Asked further to disclose the level of release, he said: “I think what we will probably do is ‎because that wasn’t part of what council discussed, so what we will do we will be giving numbers from time to time. So I’m sure within the week we should be able to give you numbers.”

    On the recession hinted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the alleged absent of plans to put Nigeria back on the path of growth, he said: “Let me speak on not having a plan. We launched a strategic document, we ‎set out 34 things we want to achieve this year, we set out all our objectives. We have a plan and the plan is to reflate the economy.

    According to him, what has happen to Nigeria was not a surprise to the government.

    “It is something that we came in to meet, it has been caused by the fall of crude oil prices from over $100 to less than $30 and so we came in to meet that problem.

    “The decision that we took to address that problem is to reflate the economy and the budget was aimed to achieve that and that is why you have in the budget a plan to spend a large amount of money on infrastructure but as you know the budget was only recently passed.

    “It takes time for the spending to be release and to hit the economy and to begin to see the impact. So we have a plan, we know the situation we are in right now and we have a plan to get out of the situation.”

    He added: “It is just that at this particular point in time we expected this trajectory because the releases will only start kicking in so that by the third quarter we will start seeing the impact of what we are doing to reflate the economy.”

    He said that the banking and the private sector were advised not to lay off staff due to the current circumstances because things will soon pick up.

    He said: “With regards to the plea to the private sector, it is because we know that by the time the economy picks up, they will need those people again‎. We know the economy is going to pick up we are confident about that, that is because of our plan; the plan was conceived because we knew that this was the trajectory we will move into.

    “I will give you an indication of some of those things in the plan, for agriculture for instance, we plan to be self-sufficient in rice within a certain number of years in rice, in wheat within a certain number of years. Indeed the Vice President has just set up a task force headed by ‎the governor of Kebbi State to realise that. So we are implementing the plan one by one.

    “We have a plan to move this country up 20 places in the ease of doing business, we are working on that, we want to stimulate the private sector because we know that even the spending by government alone will not be sufficient, we also need to have policies that will encourage the private sector. We do have a plan, it was launched, it was taken to cabinet, approved by cabinet and the minister of state had announced,” he stated

    The Minister also denied the speculation of impending sack of workers in para-military organizations.

    “That is news to me, I am not aware of any instruction to anybody to sack anybody, in fact the policy of this government, we said so at the beginning that we are not going to retrench, there is a natural wastage which happens in government, there are people who retire, people who may be disciplined but there is no policy in this government to retrench. So I want to disabuse your mind that there is no such policy,” he said.