President Muhammadu Buhari Improved Nigeria’s Budget Cycle, Infrastructure Delivery – Clem Agba

After about four years as minister of state for the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba says the outgoing administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been able to record milestones in many areas including infrastructure, budget cycle and healthcare delivery.

The minister of budget and planning also stressed the need for integrated rural development, which he said was key to solving urban area problems, explaining that provision of opportunities in the rural areas would stem the tide of rural-urban migrations that had the potential of creating slums in the urban areas.

Speaking at his end-of-tenure press conference in Abuja, Prince Agba said the administration ensured the entrenchment of a predictable January to December budget cycle beginning with the 2020 budget, a feat he said was sustained for four consecutive years, pointing out that this changed the unpredictable annual budget cycle that the country had witnessed since 1999.

In the aspect of open government, Agba bragged that the administration recorded improved budgetary processes, improved procurement process and boosting of anti-corruption fight through the introduction of transparency in company ownership (establishment of beneficial ownership register).

But the administration failed to fulfill its promise to bequeath a transparent and open procurement process to Nigeria after eight years in office despite creation of the Nigeria Open Contracting Portal (NOCOPO) which has failed to take effect till date.

When this reporter asked the minister reasons for the failure of the government to give effect to the portal, Agba said it was due to technical issues, a reason the administration has always given.

“We developed a citizen-based web app-THE EYEMARK- to enable Nigerians in the country and in the Diaspora to track execution of capital projects and report progress to the government. We saw the implementation of Grid 3 Technology, which deploys Geospatial data for evidence-based decision making and promotion of effective coordination,” he stated.

The development, approval and launch of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2025 a medium-term plan and launch of Nigeria Agenda 2050, development of Nigeria’s food system pathways implementation strategy and launching of multi–dimensional poverty index measuring tools are some of the achievements on his brag list.

The NDP 2021–2025 was introduced to ensure continuity of the plan and to remove the binding constraints militating against the private sector drive and frontline participation in funding the plan, which for instance, targets filling the $2.3 trillion infrastructure gap, which would require an annual $150b expenditure over five to ten year-period

Under his watch, the ministry of budget and planning supported the European Union Support for Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) improvement of the Nigeria electoral management body and increased youths and people living with disability participation in electoral system, he stated.

According to Prince Agba, the Ministry coordinated the European Union support response to drugs and related organized crimes in Nigeria in the development and publication of the national drug control master plan for Nigeria, 2015 – 2020, and 2021 – 2025 and both were endorsed by President Buhari.