The newly appointed minister of budget and economic planning, Atiku Bagudu says the present administration will strive to achieve double-digit economic growth.

Bagudu in a statement yesterday on his assumption to office in Abuja revealed that achieving double-digit economic growth is the goal of President Bola Tinubu. “The president has always been emphatic that if other countries have done it, why not us? Why not double-digit growth? Why not inclusion for all? An economy that promotes and rewards competition and efforts,” Bagudu said.

“We have seen bold and courageous actions in order to reposition Nigeria and he has placed an institutional arrangement that he believes will lead Nigeria to have sustained double-digit growth. “This will enable us to achieve our economic objectives at which the ministry is central to the government achieving it.”

The minister said the merger of the functions of the National Planning Commission (NPC) and the budget office of the federation under the Ministry of Budget and economic planning was a major policy change introduced by the president. Bagudu said the framework for coordinated planning and budgeting roles within the ministry was to develop appropriate institutional frameworks to effectively operationalize them.

He said that this would be done through the harmonization of planning frameworks, alignment, and prioritization of medium-term development plans. There is a need to prioritize and conceptualize how to promote Nigeria. Bagudu said He also said that he would adopt an open-door policy, adding that the ministry was an institution of knowledge that could do better through exchange of ideas.