Udoma calls for govt./private partnership

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udoma Udoma says a healthy partnership between government and the private sector will see the economy grow much faster.

He made the remark while receiving a delegation from the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), in Abuja on Thursday.

The minister acknowledged the private sector as the engine room of development.

He told NACCIMA that the present administration was fully committed to building an investment friendly environment for the organised private sector.

“This is part of why this year’s budget gave prominence to infrastructure development”, Udoma said.

He said the private sector required sound and effective infrastructure to operate, assuring that government was doing everything possible to ensure that the engine room of the economy runs smoothly.

He explained that the desire of government to ensure the smooth running of the economy was why it deliberately decided that the 2016 budget aligned with planning needs.

Udoma pointed out that the structure of the budget was very good as it did not only address development needs but did not entirely depend on oil as its only source of funding.

To ensure the proper tracking of the economy, the minister told the delegation that the Federal Government had set up a special budget performance tracking committee.

The minister disclosed that the committee, whose duty also involved full tracking of the performance of the 2016 Budget, was being chaired by Vice President Yemi Osibanjo.

He assured that the Federal Government was fashioning out policies that would encourage export and domestic production in its determined effort to ensure that most of the things consumed in the country were produced locally.

Earlier, the National President of NACCIMA, Chief Bassey Edem, applauded the zero-based budget system adopted by the federal government and particularly the policy on diversification.

The NACCIMA President stressed the need for infrastructure to better the state of roads, rail and electricity in the country.

Edem advised the government to give priority to agriculture and solid minerals development as they were capable of providing alternative sources of bulk income for the country.

He called for the establishment of export villages to regularly showcase the country’s export potentials and guarantee product quality.