By NANA MUSA

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, says new sources of revenue is being identified and explored to fund government’s projects.

Ahmed said this at a news conference to commemorate the 26th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#26) in Abuja on Thursday.

She said that the greatest challenge government had was inadequate revenue to execute its numerous projects and other initiatives.

The minister said that the present government was committed to designing various ways to generate revenue with a view to financing its projects and programmes.

She said that government was also working on operational, regulatory and legislative interventions to enable the country move to the top 100 on ease of doing business ranking.

Ahmed also disclosed that government was currently developing a Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP), 2021 to 2025 and the Nigeria Agenda 2050.

“There are 26 Technical Working Groups, Central Working Group and the Steering Committee that are committed to the process,” she said.

Ahmed said that the 26th Summit was scheduled to hold from Oct. 26 to Oct. 27, 2020 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, and summit has theme: “Building Partnership for Resilience”.

“The Summit will be an opportunity to mobilise all Nigerians to take responsibility and catalyse a future in which sub-national economies will drive Nigeria’s sustainable economic growth, development, and competitiveness in partnership with the private sector.

“It is expected that the outcome of the Summit will articulate clear and decisive actions aimed at building partnerships for resilience that will put Nigeria in a strong and competitive position among comity of nations.

“The summit will be underpinned by three pillars – collaboration, execution, and impact,” she said.

Mr Clement Agba, the Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning said that the outcome of the summit would help enrich government plans in ensuring impact of the pandemic on the economy and citizen.

Agba said that the recommendations of the NES#26 would be mainstreamed into the MTNDP currently being developed by the ministry.

Agba commended the government officials and all stakeholders for their constant support.

The Chairman of the NESG, Mr Asue Ighodalo, said that his organisation remained committed to sustaining the partnership with the Federal Government to avoid a prolonged economic recession.

Ighodalo said the organisation was also committed to improving the response-readiness of the healthcare systems, cushion the economic impact of the pandemic on businesses and avert structural unemployment among youths.

Ighodalo said it would also ensure the free movement of goods and services across borders, strengthen fiscal framework, unlock supply chains as well as expand digital infrastructure.

The 25th Summit focused on “Nigeria 2050: Shifting Gears”. (NAN)