Commissioners Seek Better Planning Strategies

A 3-day meeting of commissioners in charge of Planning, Strategy and Budgeting in the 36 states of the federation and other members of the National Planning Commission (NPC), ended in Enugu, with a call on the political class in the country to provide the enabling environment that would reverse the current one that had continued to bog down national planning.

The meeting which was aimed at charting new ways for speedier implementation of strategies for better growth of the economy, also stressed the need for the political leaders to address the variance in development agenda of the federal and state governments in the area of linking annual budgets with development plans and the need to devote more resources to capital projects at all levels.

The meeting with the theme “Development Planning and Transformation: Key to National Economic Growth and Development” which was chaired by the secretary of the National Planning Commission, Ntufam Fidelis Ugbo, featured delegates from the states and other stakeholders who also agreed that it was time to do things differently to catalyze the speedy growth of the nation through effective planning and implementation of development blue prints at the states and federal levels.

Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, told the gathering that the meeting showed “the continued commitment of the three tiers of government  to the people through the articulation and implementation of people-oriented development plans”.

The minister stated that the present resolve became even more necessary at the moment in the face of the present challenging times “when developed and developing countries are taking a hard look at the structure of their economies and making giant strides to address the challenges”.

Governor Sullivan Chime of  Enugu State who was represented on the occasion by his deputy, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi, stated that there was no better time for invigorated strategic planning and implementation than now in view of the dire need to continue to power the indices of national growth at the states and federal level.

In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the commission stated that the bi-annual meeting has continued to make recommendations to the National Economic Council headed by the vice president of the country with all the state governors as members.

The conferees also underscored the need to strengthen institutions at the national and sub national levels to pave the way for implementation of national development plans, a lacuna that has been the bane of the nation’s growth in the past decades.

According to the meeting , “The current resurgence of planning in Nigeria at the three tiers of government underpinned by high level of political commitment shown by president Goodluck Jonathan and most of the governors , if sustained, will result in substantial improvement in the management of the economy and increased success of our planning and democratic efforts”.