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 by Charles Dafe, Director of Information
in the ministry, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in
Abuja.
The statement said that the Minister of State Budget and National
Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this when the Association of National
Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) paid her a courtesy visit.
She added that the Federal Government had also started the preparation of
the Medium Term 2016-2020 Development Programme to achieve sustainable
development.
The ministry, however, solicited the support of ANAN to build the capacity
of the staff on Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) application. The minister also
appealed to the association to assist the present administration to fight
corruption.
“As accountants, we can resist corruption, block illegal releases; we need
to start from ourselves; we must uphold the tenets of our profession and
make ourselves clean and accountable always. “Our administration came on a
change mantra; we shall be transparent and accountable to all Nigerians,”
she said.
Earlier, Anthony Nzom, ANAN’s president, promised to provide technical
knowledge to the staff of the ministry on ZBB concept adopted in the 2016
budget.
Mr. Nzom commended the ‘’visionary appointment’’ made by President
Muhammadu Buhari on two fellow members of ANAN, Zainab Ahmed as minister
and Tijjani Abdullahi as Director-General of Budget Office.
He said that the nation would benefit a lot from their professional
competence and services. (NAN)