FG on course to present 2018 budget in Oct, says minister

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed says the Federal Government is on course to presenting the 2018 budget proposal to the National Assembly in October.

Ahmed said this at the news conference at the end of the 23rd Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#23) on Thursday in Abuja.She said that 2018 budget proposal would be presented to the National Assembly in October as planned.

“That is what we said and we are still on course and target to do that, the budget is ready.“It will be going to the Federal Executive Council first of all for approval before Mr President will convey it to the National Assembly.

“We are on course to deliver the 2018 budget in October.“ We hope that working together with National Assembly it will be passed on time in December so that in January, we will start a fresh budget going forward,’’ the minister said.

Ahmed said that the government was working to push the implementation of Presidential Executive Orders to boost economic growth and development.According to her, the ministry has come up with a mechanism to monitor the performance of ministers.

“We have started producing a monthly and evaluation report that is measuring the performance of ministers’’.Ahmed, however, said that the government would fast-track the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

“We have just received the recommendations and we are going to review it.“One of the recommendations says the lab for the implementation of the ERGP must be done quickly in the next two weeks.

“That is what we are committed to doing, we will review the recommendations and plan the implementation with the view of fast-tracking the growth we are aspiring,’’ she said.

Earlier, Ahmed received the report of the NES#23 on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari from the organiser of the summit, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Chairman of NESG, Mr Kyari Bukar, presented the report.The theme of NES#23 was “Opportunities, Productivity and Employment; Actualising the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

The deliberations focused on five sub-themes of Think Nigeria; Skills, Competencies and Capacity; Access to Capital; Legislation and Economic Inclusion.The participants adopted a solution-based approach in addressing the issues that would create opportunities, tackle unemployment and improve productivity.