The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma

  • FG seeks private sector investment from UK

    FG seeks private sector investment from UK

    The Federal Government on Thursday said it would work with government of the United Kingdom to stimulate more direct private sector investments into Nigeria.

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma said this in Abuja during a meeting with a delegation from the British government led by the Secretary of State for International Development, Mrs Priti Patel.

    He told the delegation that Federal Government was intensifying efforts at ensuring the ease of doing business in the country and would welcome more foreign investments.

    Patel and her team are in Nigeria to have an on-the-spot appraisal of the situation in the North East of the country to enable the British Government to decide on how to assist the Nigerian government in addressing the situation in the region, as well as other development initiatives.

    Acknowledging the various interventions by the British Government in aid of the country’s developmental challenges, the minister said although Nigeria would appreciate more foreign aid from the British Government, it would be looking more in the area of investments from companies in that country coming into Nigeria.

    He explained government’s efforts toward ensuring the ease of doing business and particularly mentioned the creation of industrial hubs in the six geo-political zones of the country that would have the basic facilities required for manufacturing to thrive smoothly.

    The British government, he said, could help in encouraging manufacturers in the United Kingdom to outsource some of their productions to Nigeria and take advantage of the special economic zones.

    The minister said that the Federal Government was committed to creating a successful economy, pointing out that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan launched early this year was meant to serve as vehicle to drive government’s diversification policy.

    Udoma said Federal Government had constituted an Inter-ministerial Task Force under the chairmanship of the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning to properly handle and coordinate humanitarian assistance efforts to the North East.

    This, he noted, was to ensure proper delivery and effective utilisation of funds and materials.

    In her comments, Patel assured that the British Government would continue to assist Nigeria in addressing its humanitarian and developmental challenges.

    She said her team would discuss further with the Federal Government to look at more proactive ways of dealing with the fallouts of the North East crisis.

    She added that more work would be done in the areas of investment in education, international partnerships, capacity building, scaling up of farming in local communities among, other development issues.

     

  • 2018 Budget: FG considers special intervention fund for NAPTIP – Minister

    2018 Budget: FG considers special intervention fund for NAPTIP – Minister

    Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister Budget and National Planning, says the Federal Government is considering providing special intervention funds for  victims of human trafficking in the 2018 budget.

    Udoma said this when he received the Director-General of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Ms Julie Donli, on Thursday in Abuja.

    The minister said the visit was timely as the ministry had begun the preparation for the 2018 budget and the ministry would consider the request of the agency in providing special intervention funds for it.

    “We can now reflect some of your requirements in the 2018 budget, but I think you should work closely with your supervising ministry (Ministry of Justice).

    “You need to work with your ministry to get your needs included in the budget when submitting to the Budget Office,’’ he said.

    Udoma, however, assured the agency of the ministry’s support to address its challenges.

    The minister said the priority of the administration was to invest in Nigerians, adding that it is the reason the government inaugurated the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

    “Investing in our people is not just Nigerians here, it is for Nigerians everywhere because we have a responsibility for the welfare of every Nigerian.’’

    He commended the agency for living up to its responsibility in addressing issues of trafficking in the country.

    Earlier, Donli spoke on the challenges hindering the agency to perform its mandate effectively.

    “Our challenges are enormous; our funding is inadequate for this kind of job we are expected to do.

    “The envelope system cannot work for us. We need to be classified as a proper security agency because our job is similar to that of EFCC.

    “ There is no absolute difference between the and NAPTIP in terms of operations and job description,’’ she said.

    According to her, NAPTIP has nine zonal commands in the 36 states of the federation and it requires a lot of funding.

    Donli expressed worry over the state of the agency’s operational vehicles, adding that they were donated to the agency by donor agencies over 10 years.

    “There was Presidential order in 2014 to sort it out and over N309 million was approved and it was supposed to spread over the 2015 and 2016 budget.

    “We have not really had our own vehicles, the ones we have are old and rickety and our officials are using their own vehicles to work.’’

    Besides, the director-general decried lack of funds in rehabilitating and repatriation of victims as well as prosecuting those involved in the act.

    “There is need to provide special intervention funds for us to facilitate the rescue and repatriation of traffickers victims from various parts of the world, especially Africa.

    “We have no fewer than 5,000 victims awaiting rescue from Mali alone; every day we get people coming from Libya, Spain, Italy; every day they come in their hundreds and we are at dilemma.

    “Coming to prosecution, we ought to have more cases of conviction.

    “Right now, we can only boost of 323 cases, over the years, we have rescued 10,685 victims, we cannot prosecute them,’’ she lamented.

    She solicited the support of all stakeholders in achieving the mandate of NAPTIP.

    “Also, we encourage people to report cases of human trafficking just to help us trace assets of traffickers as well.

    “The law gives us the power to trace and seize the assets of traffickers through the court for the benefit of the victims of trafficking,’’ Donli said.

  • FG returns Nigeria to January/December fiscal year

    FG returns Nigeria to January/December fiscal year

    The Federal Government on Tuesday started a move to return the country back to a predictable January to December fiscal year with the early preparation of the 2018 budget proposals.

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen Udoma Udo Udoma said this in a statement signed by his Media Adviser, James Akpandem in Abuja.

    Udoma said that the ministry held an event, tagged: “Flag of the 2018 Budget Preparation Process’’ to inform the relevant Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the processes and procedures of the budget preparation.

    The event came up less than 24 hours after Acting President Yemi Osinbajo signed the 2017 Appropriation Bill into law.

    At the event, Osinbajo said“ going forward, we have agreed with the National Assembly leadership on the necessity to get Nigeria back onto a predictable January to December fiscal year.

    “To achieve this, the 2018 budget needs to get to the National Assembly no later than early October so that the National Assembly can conclude work on it before the end of the year.”

    The Acting President emphasised on the need for direct involvement of Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and heads of government agencies in the preparation of their respective establishments’ budgets.

    “Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are to take responsibility to ensure that as much as possible their 2017 Budget is implemented between now and December.

    “They are also to be personally involved in the process for the preparation of the 2018 Budget to ensure that we meet the deadline for submitting it to the National Assembly by early October 2017,” he said.

    In addition, Osinbajo said that they must fast-track the implementation of the 2017 Budget to make up for the lost time and to deliver on expectations.

    He observed that Personnel Costs had continued to be a source of budgetary pressure, urging the MDAs to collaborate with the relevant authorities to ensure that only legitimate employees are on the payroll.

    He told them to collaborate with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning as well as the Ministry of Finance, in their efforts to ensure full implementation of the IPPIS.

    The Acting President also tasked the top government functionaries to pay serious attention to the revenue side of the budget as the country needed to improve on revenue generation to fund of the budget.

    Speaking further, Udoma reminded the officials that the 2018 Personnel Budget Call Circular had been issued to them since April.

    The minister said work had already commenced on the 2018-2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework /Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP).

    He said the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007 prescribes certain deadlines for Budget related activities, which government must endeavour to comply with.

    These objectives, he said, were particularly important for a government which had changed as its agenda.

    “Delayed national budgets are generally considered as indicative of poor public financial management which is not good for the image of the Government.’’

    Udoma, however, said that the 2018 budget would be the first full-year budget following the finalisation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

    “It became imperative that the budget was fully aligned with the objectives and priorities of the ERGP.

    “The 2018 budget process is, therefore, being harmonised with the Implementation Roadmap for the ERGP,’’ he said.

    The event was aimed at sensitising all top government functionaries and other stakeholders on the ERGP Implementation Roadmap and critical guidelines for the preparation of the 2018 budget to ensure its alignment with the ERGP.

    Meanwhile, Udoma will present the breakdown of the 2017 Budget to the general public on Monday, June 19 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Abuja at 10:00a.m.

  • Economic Recovery Plan: FG to provide 15m jobs, 10 gigawatt of electricity

    The Federal Government says it will provide at least 15 million jobs for Nigerians by the year 2020 as captured in the recently launched Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, gave the assurance at a news conference on ERGP on Tuesday in Abuja.

    Udoma said that the implementation of the plan would deliver some key outcomes including generation of at least 10 gigawatt of electricity by 2020.

    Cue in audio 1

    “We want to bring down the rate of unemployment by creating over 15 million direct jobs by 2020 in agriculture, manufacturing, construction, services and particularly among the youth.

    “We want the manufacturing sector to grow at average of 8.5 per cent, peaking 10.6 per cent by 2020.

    “We want agriculture to also grow by 6.9 per cent over the Plan period; we want self-sufficiency in rice and wheat in 2018 and 2020 at the end of the plan period.

    “We want 60 per cent reduction in imports of refined petroleum products by 2018 and to become a net exporter of refined crude by 2020.

    “We expect an average of 4.6 per cent average real GDP (Gross Domestic Growth) growth rate over the Plan period with 7 per cent by 2020; we want to achieve single digit inflation rate by 2020.

    “We want to increase crude oil output from 2.2 million barrel per day (mbpd) to 2.5 mbpd by 2020.

    “We want to achieve at 10 gigawatt of operational electricity capacity by 2020.’’

    Udoma said that the ERGP evolved from the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) which government had been implementing since 2016.

    “Already, following the implementation of the SIP, the economy has shown signs of early recovery in the 4th quarter of 2016 as indicated in the recent report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

    “We need to build on that momentum.

    “This Plan, which succeeds the SIP, sets out Government’s economic programmes and strategic interventions over the next four years (2017-2020).

    “When implemented, it will put Nigeria back on the path of diversified, inclusive, sustained growth. This is therefore, our blueprint for economic recovery and growth.’’

    Udoma further said that the plan would tackle the fundamental problems that held back the progress of the country in the past.

    He said the future prosperity rests upon collective support towards effective implementation of the Plan over the next four years.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ERGP’s projected that Nigeria will make significant progress to achieve structural economic change with a more diversified and inclusive economy in five key areas by 2020.

    The key areas are stable macro-economic environment, agricultural transformation, food security, sufficiency in energy and improved transportation infrastructure.

  • 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.

  • Social intervention programmes start in 2017 – Udoma

    Social intervention programmes start in 2017 – Udoma

    The Federal Government’s  social intervention programmes will start fully in 2017.

    Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, the Minister of Budget and National Planning made this known while fielding questions from some stakeholders on the status of programmes at the Public Presentation of the 2017 Budget Proposals in Abuja on Monday.

    He said that N500 billion had been allocated for the programme, which included Home Grown School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme, Nigeria-Power Job Creation Programme, Conditional Cash Transfers and Social Housing Fund.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that N500 billion was allocated for same programmes in the 2016 budget.

    Udoma said that 2106 was a year of planning and consultation for the programmes

    “We have to get these programmes right so excessive consultation and excessive planning has gone into those projects because we don’t want any waste.

    “We want to make sure that the funds get to the beneficiaries; you will see full implementation in 2017; that is why the same allocation has been made for the programmes.

    “We will not waste time in terms of preparatory work, it has been done already,’’ he said.

    Speaking on the level of implementation of the programmes, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning said a lot of processes had gone into the implementation.

    Ahmed said that the implementation did not start until September/October this year.

    “In October that the programme picked up; 200,000 youths have been employed and deployed to states to work.

    “The home school feeding programme has also taken off in Anambra, Kaduna and Osun and eight other states are ready to join.

    “There are a lot of processes that we have to go through to prepare the release of funds for this project.

    “We didn’t want a situation where the programme will be like other social protection programmes in the past that the funds were misused.’’

    The minister said that a lot of effort was done to identify beneficiaries, to enumerate them, to prepare the personnel that would be working and tracking the progress of the programme.

    NAN reports that Federal Government had earmarked N185 billion in the 2017 budget for new initiatives.

    The initiatives include the Social Housing Programme; Special Economic Zone Projects; Export-Expansion Grant; and Recapitalisation of the Bank of Industry.

  • No plan to sell any asset, says Fed Govt

    No plan to sell any asset, says Fed Govt

    The Federal Government yesterday said it has not taken any decision to sell any national asset.

    Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen 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 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 meets China Bank official over projects funding

    Udoma meets China Bank official over projects funding

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, has commenced follow-up discussions with the management of the Chinese EXIM Bank in Beijing, China, over funding of some projects.

    This is contained in a statement issued by the Minister’s Media Aide, Mr James Akpandem and made available to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.

    The statement said that the meeting with the bank would lead to the implementation of the various projects discussed during the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to China.

    “President Buhari during a State Visit in April this year reached various agreements with the Chinese Government on development assistance, particularly the funding of some critical infrastructure in the country.

    ‘The visit by the President further bolstered Nigeria’s participation in the 10 critical areas under the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC),” it said.

    According to the statement, Udoma is in China to attend the FOCAC Coordinators meeting.

    The statement said that Udoma appealed for financial assistance from EXIM Bank to enable the country to execute some of the basic infrastructure projects to boost the economy.

    “Our relationship with China is very important to us, which was why our President led a big delegation on a State visit to China in April this year.

    “We are quite impressed with the infrastructural development in China and believe that China has a lot to teach us in Nigeria.

    “China has a lot to teach us in Nigeria; particularly we will like the support of China in the area of infrastructure development, ‘’ the statement quotes Udoma as saying.

    Responding, the Vice-President of EXIM Bank, Mr Yuan Xingyong, said that China enjoyed very sound relationship with Nigeria.

    “Nigeria is important to the bank because the two have been doing good business together and the country has a good record of repayment.

    “The bank is willing to deepen the bilateral cooperation with the country and extend financial support for development purposes” he said.