Federal Government Already Planning For The 2017 Budget

The Ministry of Budget and National Planning has said that it has started preparation of the 2017 budget to enhance economic development.

This is contained in a statement made available to the news media by Mr Charles Dafe, Director of Information in the ministry, in Abuja.

The statement said that the Minister of State Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, said this during a courtesy call by Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) to her.

It said that the minister said the Federal Government had already started the preparation of the Medium Term 2016-2020 Development Programme to achieve sustainable development.

The ministry also solicited the support of ANAN to build the capacity of the staff on Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) application.

The minister urged the association to also support and assist the administration to fight corruption by resisting and blocking illegal releases.

She said that this administration came on a change mantra and remains committed to ensure transparency and accountability to all Nigerians.

Earlier, Mr Anthony Nzom, ANAN’s President, promised to provide technical knowledge to the staff of the ministry on ZBB concept adopted in the 2016 budget.

Nzom commended the ‘’visionary appointment’’ made by President Muhammadu Buhari on two fellow members of ANAN, Hajia Zainab Ahmed as minister and Alhaji Tijjani Abdullahi as Director-General of Budget Office.

He assured the nation that the duo professional competence and services will be beneficial.