Udoma begins work on 2016 budget

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo
Udoma, on Thursday formally assumed duty at the
headquarters of the ministry in Abuja.
Udoma, who arrived the ministry at around 10am in
company with the Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Zainab
Ahmed, was received by both the outgoing Permanent
Secretary, Mr. Bassey Akpanyadung, and his successor, Mrs.
Fatimah Mede.
Upon their arrival, the ministers received briefings from top
officials of the ministry.
Speaking at a meeting between the ministers and the top
officials of the ministry, Akpanyadung commended
President Muhammdu Buhari for merging the National
Planning Commission with the Budget Office of the
Federation to produce the new ministry.
He said over the years, the economy had stagnated as
government plans were not usually aligned with the budget.
He said now that a new ministry had been created to take
care of planning and budgeting, the country would soon
begin to see changes.
Akpanyadung said, “National planning is the engine room of
the economy if it is well situated. Before now, the agency
had been having trouble in making impact. We had a lot of
plans in the past but the budget had not been achieving
what it was supposed to achieve and we are happy now that
the current administration has taken steps to address this.
“We need to have the budget office working with the
planning office to achieve the objectives of government.”
Responding, Udoma said that since the new administration
had promised to change the way things were being done,
Nigerians would soon begin to see improvements in the
economy.
While admitting that it would not be easy owing to the
current challenges facing the economy, the minister said,
“These are challenging times for the country and the
economy, and we are confident that we will turn things
around.
“But it will take hard work to achieve that. We will hear from
everybody and no idea will be dismissed. People are waiting
for us; we are starting today. We have a budget that has to
be finalised.”
Similarly, the immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Dr.
Kayode Fayemi, assumed duty as Minister of Solid Minerals
on Thursday, a day after his inauguration by President
Muhammadu Buhari, with a pledge to transform the sector.
The Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations in the
ministry, Mr. Ambrose Momoh, disclosed this in a statement
made available to one of our correspondents in Abuja on
Thursday.
Momoh said Fayemi reported for duty alongside the
Minister of State for Solid Minerals, Mr. Abubakar Bwari, and
the newly appointed Permanent Secretary for the ministry,
Mr. Musa Istifanus.