FG sensitises 14 ministries to medium term strategies to turn round economy

Udo Udoma said this at the opening of a sensitisation workshop for 14 critical ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to develop and document Medium Term Sector Strategies (MTSS).

According to him, the ministries are “large capital spending ones” that are critical to the preparation of 2017 budget in line with the Change Agenda of the present administration.

He listed the ministries as: Transport, Power, Works and Housing, Water Resources, Health, Education, Defence, Environment and Solid Minerals among others.

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“The current MTSS exercise will be limited to selected critical sectors to support the preparation of the 2017 budget.

“ And it is so limited because we want to focus and because of time constraint.

“It is planned to roll out the MTSS process to all sectors and MDAs from 2017 and beyond.

“This is aimed at guiding MDAs for more efficient and effective investment of national resources in critical sectors of the economy, in line with the Change Agenda of this administration.’’

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He stressed the need to capture both existing and new initiatives in the development of credible MTSS that would help in achieving the sectoral and national aspirations.

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“The MTSS, 2017-2019 of these selected Ministries/Agencies will serve as basis for their 2017 Budget Proposals.

“It will also serve as credible input into development of 2017-2020 Medium Term Plan, currently being developed under the coordination of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

“This is aimed at improving the linkage betweenthe spending of the MDAs and the goals of medium term plan.

“The support of Permanent Secretaries is a critical success factor in the process of preparation of MTSS and the 2017 Budget.

“I, therefore, implore you to be committed to the process and also provide all the necessary support to your staff involved in the exercise’’.

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Udo Udoma noted that the MTSS would entail a well articulated medium-term goal that is gearing towards overall goals of Medium Term Development Plan (2017-2020) and the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“It will identify initiatives, projects and programmes that will contribute to the achievement of the slated sectors goals and define the expected outcomes of the identified initiatives in clear measures terms.

“It will ensure costing the identified key initiatives projects and programmes in a clear and transparent manner and phasing implementation of identified over the medium-term.

“It will also link expected outcomes of their objectives and goals and defining the Monitoring and Evaluation framework for the sector,’’ the minister said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the workshop was “Addressing the Approach to Developing the Medium Term Sector Strategies and Plans.’’