Hon. Minister For Budget and Planning, Sen. Bagudu, Appears Before Lawmakers, Reassures Nigerians Of Commitment To Boost Economic Activities

Hon. Minister For Budget and Planning, Sen. Bagudu, Appears Before Lawmakers, Reassures Nigerians Of Commitment To Boost Economic Activities

The Honorable Minister for Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu CON, participated in the Sectoral Debate convened by the National Assembly alongside his Finance Counterpart, Chief Wale Edun, CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, and Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zach Adedeji, on Tuesday, February 6, 2024 at the House of Representatives.

During his presentation before the lawmakers, Senator Bagudu reassured Nigerians of government’s commitment to national development, emphasizing that Mr President is aware of the challenges facing the populace. He stated, “What is happening in our country is obvious to someone visiting a construction site. We are very clear that we are on the right path and the challenges of the moment are being tackled. We are getting support from international partners, and they are all acknowledging the commendable steps that the president is taking. “We have seen investments in the rail sector, the NNLG, and we assure you that we will overcome the challenges of the moment and sustain the economic growth as promised by the president,”.

The Honourable Minister highlighted the ministry’s focus on stimulating sustainable economic growth, expressing the government’s readiness through the ministry to collaborate with the National Assembly to boost economic activities. He noted the improvements across various sectors, underscoring their contribution to national productivity.

Key takeaways from the Minister’s presentation include:

• The ministry has a mandate for budget and for national planning.
• We are tasked with ensuring how best the fundamental objective of state policy can target and achieve the goal of optimal development.
• FG delivered a budget that now has capital expenditure that outweighs recurrent expenditure.
• We have a capital expenditure of 39% of the budget.
• There is also a marked increase in budgets for infrastructure, health and education which are the enablers of growth.
• There are many provisions in the budget to support agriculture. Agric funding has increased. More funding for small scale farmers so they can do better as individuals and also contribute better to national productivity.
• The coodinating mechanism put in place under Minister of Finance gives confidence that we will deliver on the 2024 budget.
• We will overcome the challenges of the moment and come up with economic growth that will carry everyone along.