Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has promised to continue to partner with key stakeholders including the private sector, the state and local governments, the National Assembly and the judiciary to turn the current challenges into opportunities for the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari made this promise at a retreat in Abuja which focused on building inter-ministerial synergy for effective planning and budgeting in Nigeria and had in attendance ministers, economic consultants and development experts.
With the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo in attendance, how to get Nigeria’s economy out of recession formed the core of the dialogue.
According to President Buhari, “the challenges we face in the current recession require ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking, to deploy strategies that involve engaging meaningfully with the private sector.”
He added, “we are confident that the level of private investment will grow as we are determined to make it easier to do business in Nigeria.”
The retreat also served as an opportunity to have a general overview of the economy and discuss the framework for the 2017 budget, its key priorities and deliverables.
President Buhari addressed the meeting stating guidelines on the 2017 budget process.
The meeting also reviewed prioritised projects and programmes of ministries to fit into the medium term plan and 2017 budget.
Private sector facilitators and some experts on economics also provided perspectives during the technical sessions at the retreat.
Also in attendance were ministers and heads of relevant federal ministries, departments and agencies as well as economic consultants, including some technocrats.
The full text of President Buhari’s address at the meeting has been published on Channels TV website.
