The Federal government is seeking support of the United States of America in form of technical assistance to develop the transportation infrastructure and agricultural sector as the country intensifies work on its economic diversification project.
Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister Budget and National Planning told the USAID/Nigeria Mission Director Stephen Haykin who was in his office in Abuja on Friday that, though Nigeria is looking inwards for more revenues, it nonetheless appreciates external support especially in the form of technical assistance.
He urged the development partners in the Nigeria to align their initiatives with the objectives of the country, pointing out that although Nigeria will like some foreign aid, its major focus is generating enough revenues locally.
He further Explained the essence of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan recently launched by the Buhari Administration is to restore growth to a positive and sustained path, to invest in the Nigerian people to improve their living standards, and to build an economy that is globally competitive.
He said “government set out five key execution priorities with focus on improving the macroeconomic environment; ensuring agriculture value-chain enhancement and food security; enhancing the energy sector; developing transportation infrastructure and encouraging industrialization with particular focus on small and medium scale enterprises”.
“Nigerian government is fully committed to good governance and has demonstrated this in the steps it has been taking in the fight against corruption which has not only drastically reduced impunity in the handling of government finances but acted as deterrence to further mismanagement”.
He assured the USAID Director that any additional support received from Nigeria’s development partners will be judiciously utilized adding that the US can contribute to the speedy recovery and growth of the Nigerian economy by increasing the volume of its Nigeria’s oil imports as well as allowing more Nigeria’s exports into the United States.
The US could also encourage its manufacturing companies to take advantage of the proposed Special Economic Zones to set up industries in Nigeria just as they are doing in the Far East Asian countries, particularly since Nigeria is closer to the US and has a huge market, Udoma noted.
Haykin Stephen, USAID Mission Director opined that it was good to know that Nigeria is strategically aligning its efforts to move forward economically and appreciated the fact that it is much more focused on generating its non-oil revenues.
Cynthia Egboboh, Abuja
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