The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said past administrations of Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar Adua and Goodluck Jonathan had good economic plans for Nigeria, but lacked the political will to implement them.Ahmed made the remark on Thursday while speaking at the second Presidential economic communication workshop in Abuja.
The Minister said, “We have had very good plans, from NEEDS, Seven Point Agenda to Transformation Agenda. All of them were good plans, but the political will to implement them was lacking.Ahmed revealed that the 2017 budget was ready, but that her ministry was waiting for the approval of the medium term expenditure framework, MTEF, before the proposal would be presented to the National Assembly.
Recall that the Presidency recently said the implementation of the 2017 budget will commence on January 1.Speaking further, Ahmed said, “The 2017 budget is ready, but we need the MTEF to be approved so we can make adjustments if there is a need for an adjustment.”
The junior Minister noted that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government was working towards addressing the current recession facing the country.According to her, one of the steps being taken was, “growing non-oil exports in the light of the competitive and comparative advantage created by the depreciation of the naira following the introduction of a market effective exchange rate.”