President Muhammadu Buhari will today chair an extra-ordinary retreat in Abuja to seek for ways of pulling the economy out of recession.
Expected at the one-day retreat are Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and heads of relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Also expected are private sector facilitators and some economic experts, who have been invited to offer perspectives during the technical sessions.
In a statement, the Ministry of Budget & National Planning said discussions on measures to revamp the economy will be the focus of the retreat.
According to Budget & National Planning Minister Udoma Udo Udoma, the meeting would also provide the forum for the Federal Government to present and discuss priority areas of next year’s budget and realign its priority areas of the MDAs with national growth and development objectives.
The statement by the minister’s spokesman Akpandem James reads: “The key objective of the retreat is to discuss the 2017 budget as well as steps being taken to get the economy out of recession.
“The meeting is part of a scheduled arrangement to fine-tune and set the right parameters for the 2017 Budget. It (the meeting) will provide an opportunity to discuss the framework of the 2017 Budget, the key priorities and the deliverables of the budget.
“The retreat is expected to deliver improved understanding of the measures being taken to get the country out of recession; improve synergy among the various ministries for enhanced implementation of planning and budget; and enhance knowledge of how to develop 2017 budget which is effectively linked with the medium term plan.
“The meeting will also review prioritised projects and programmes of ministries to fit into the 2017-2019 MTSS, 2017-2020 Medium Term Plan and 2017 Budget; and improved understanding on budget ceiling for MDAs for 2017 Budget,” he said.