Minister Tasks MDAs on Attaining Fiscal Buffers, Macroeconomic Stability

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning have been charged to harness their energies towards attaining fiscal buffers and stimulating macroeconomic stability.

This charge was given by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, at the ministerial alignment meeting held in Abuja.

She said it was crucial for them to remain unwavering and relentless in the pursuit of earmarked 40 deliverables at the 2019 presidential retreat/ministerial induction.

According to her, it is critical to take stock of progress and align with the updated performance monitoring tools and frameworks put in place to support MDAs towards achieving the respective priority projects and deliverables.

“Here at the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, we have made significant progress towards achieving our 40 deliverables.

“Each deliverable has been assigned to an accounting officer responsible for overseeing the implementation teams that are executing on the deliverables,” Mrs Ahmed said.

She further said, “We have developed key performance indicators, baselines and targets to measure progress and ensure full and timely implementation.

“Furthermore, an ICT platform has been designed and is being operationalised to ensure efficient performance management and tracking; and enable real-time progress analysis.”

“It is important to situate our performance discussions within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in unprecedented global health and economic crisis and the effects have been swift and far-reaching.

“Like other primarily oil-dependent economies, Nigeria has been hit hard by the dual reality of the drop in crude oil prices and the pandemic.

“Due to the global economic slowdown caused by global lockdowns, demand for crude oil has significantly declined, and Nigeria’s source of foreign exchange revenues has been severely impacted.

“While we successfully exited recession in Q4 2020, in large part due to the swift measures put in place post-COVID 19, there is still much progress to be made,” the Minister disclosed.