In a statement released yesterday by Senior Special Assistant to
President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, President Buhari
yesterday ordered the National Planning Commission to go back to the
drawing board and produce the framework for the 2016 national budget
that will reduce recurrent expenditure and prioritize developmental
projects.
Shehu said the President gave the order after receiving a briefing from the Executive Secretary of the commission, Dr. Bassey Akpanyung, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said the President told Akpanyung and the directors of the NPC that capital projects must now be given priority because Nigeria cannot achieve real development without adequate investment in capital and infrastructural projects.
“In carrying out its role in surveillance of the economy, review and appraisal of policies, the commission should devise a plan for a realignment of the budget so that capital projects can be really prioritised,” the President directed.
The executive secretary of the NPC had informed the President that Nigeria’s planning system was beset by many challenges. These challenges, he said, included the non-alignment of national plans with the annual budget and inadequate capacity in the departments of planning, research and statistics in the various government ministries.