Planning minister urges donor agencies to cooperate with government

Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clement Ikanade Agba has urged donor agencies and development partners in the country to cooperate with the government to streamline their support to the country.

Agba said cooperation by the partners would help to align their support to the country’s priority areas and make for better coordination of their activities and programmes in the country.

He spoke when he received in his office, on Tuesday, the delegation from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) led by its Representative to ECOWAS and Regional Director, Nigeria Hub Office, Mr Jean Bakole.

He commended UNIDO for its new 5-year Country Partnership Programme (2018-2022) signed in November 2018, which is designed to address nine critical areas of Nigeria’s development.

He said that the sectors were aligned to the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (EGRP) and Vision 2020 plans.

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The Minister, therefore, urged UNIDO to ensure that “it works closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure the smooth implementation of the Country Programme”, adding that he believed that such partnership would complement Government’s economic programmes aimed at diversifying revenue generation and employment creation, which were key to the administration’s policies.

The UNIDO Representative to the ECOWAS and Regional Director, Nigeria Hub Office, Mr Bakole expressed gratitude to the Nigerian Government for its strong commitment and support to UNIDO’s activities and multilateralism in Africa.

“I don’t know of any other country in Africa that is committed to Multilateralism as Nigeria.

“Nigeria is one of the few countries that ensures its yearly contribution without delay,” he said.

The UNIDO representative explained that “Nigeria’s development is critical to growth and development of Africa”, adding “UNIDO has designed the new Country Partnership Programme in line with the Country’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the Vision 2020 aimed at addressing the country’s economic challenges.”

He said “there is no way we can move forward without industrialization.”

Bakole listed the nine critical areas which the new programmes intend to intervene as industrial governance, agro-allied initiatives; special economic zones and industrial parks; development of MSMEs; trade capacity building aimed at fully utilizing AFCTA; energy, particularly renewable energy; environment; metal and mineral development; and, science innovation and technology.