The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning has held a two-day North East Technical meeting on the Preparation of the Medium-Term National Development Plan 2021-2025.
The objective of the meeting is to ensure the effective participation of sun-nationals in the development, implementation and monitoring of the Medium-Term National Development Plan from 2021 to 2025, which is part of the process for its development and the implementation as well as that of the Nigerian Agenda 2050.
Consequently, the ministry felt the need to have a more holistic and inclusive process by engaging all stakeholders across all levels of government and private sectors, which brought the stakeholders together to deliberate on the inputs from the collated template of the North East States.
States’ input
Director from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. Gloria Ahmed, said the meeting in Gombe was the last in the zones and was aimed at harnessing the inputs of states into the Medium-Term national development Plan 2021-2025 so that the national plan to be produced would reflect the interest and ownership of all Nigerians and the country as a whole.
“This time around it has to be different. That is why we have come to the North East. We are going to sit down together, you make your input into the plan and tell us the role you are going to play, we are also going to tell you the role we think you should play and how it will go. So, it’s a partnership. It’s not the Federal Government now directing you on how it will be done. It’s all sitting together as a family to decide that this is how we want Nigeria to go,” Ahmed said.
National development
For Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, the preparation of the Medium-Term National Development Plan is a critical milestone in the life of any nation that aspires to develop.
The Governor commended the Federal Government for taking a new approach towards achieving more inclusive and effective participation of states and local governments and described the plan as the bedrock for any sustainable development.
He said the different stages of the ongoing process for the development and implementation of the medium-term National Development Plan 2021-2025 and Nigeria Agenda 2050 were in order to deepen ownership and sustainability.
Job creation and poverty reduction
The Governor who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Mannasah Daniel Jatau, said the Development Plan would lift 34 million people out of poverty and generate 25 million jobs by 2025.
He said it would recognise the youths as key drivers for the economic growth in the future, thereby creating opportunities for them and the integration of social inclusion in the theme across the 2021-2025 Medium-Tern National Development Plan.
“I, therefore, implore participants at this very important meeting to have a robust discussion and come up with harmonise inputs that will enrich the medium-term national development plan that can be useful to both the north-eastern states and the country in general. This i believe will lead to a better governance system for all of us which ensures policies, programmes and projects that are well planned and beneficial to the citizens and effectively delivered,” Governor Yahaya said.
The Special Adviser to Governor Yahaya on Budget Planning and Development Partner Coordination, Dr. Ishiayaku Mohammed, said the collated template from the North East States would be used in the graph national Plan.
“I implore all stakeholders to think out of the box for a robust National Development Plan in order to scale up the interventions, improve the standard of living of the Nigerian citizens. The efforts you see today is the collaboration between the Gombe State Government and the Federal Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning” , Mohammed said.
Nneka Ukachukwu
