Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba has stated that the capacity-building programme organized for special Advisers and Technical Assistants to the ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria supported by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) is key to the formulation of Medium and long-Term National Development Plans.
Agba made this assertion during the closing ceremony of the four-week, seven-batch capacity-building programme for ministerial aides on Monday in Abuja.
‘’This training could not have come at a more auspicious time than now that the Federal Government is in the process of developing new Medium –Term National Development Plans (MTNDPs-2021-2025 & 2026-2030) and Nigeria Agenda 2050 across all sectors,” he stated.
According to the minister, “it’s against this backdrop that this capacity-building and development programme was envisaged to integrate the roles of ministerial aides into the overall sustainable development plan of the government of Nigeria.”
He said that the Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed had, in her speech to declare the programme opened, highlighted the important supportive roles played by Special Advisers and Technical Assistants to Ministers in the design and implementation of policies and plans of government aimed at ensuring an inclusive, sustainable and resilient economy in line with government priorities.
Agba expressed optimism that the several principles learnt during the course of the training would impact positively on participants as they returned to their various ministries.
He encouraged them to utilize the rare opportunity provided by the training to internalize and propagate the ideas embedded in the training by inspiring and motivating the staff members of the ministries to join the change mantra of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Agba further lauded KAS’ support for the Capacity-Building programme for aides of the ministers, adding that the Ministry of Budget and National Planning would be inviting KAS for further discussions with a view to reaching a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would “see us institutionalizing these trainings on a regular and sustained basis which we can all be proud of.”
“We will also find a way to create a System-wide adoption of the Lean Six Sigma (one of the training modules) across all sectors, which would also be combined with digital technologies to ensure its success and sustainability,” he maintained.
Earlier in his remarks, Dr Vladimir Kreck, Resident Representative of Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung in Nigeria, expressed his delight in the success of the four-week programme amid the COVID 19 pandemic in Nigeria, adding that skills, knowledge, attitudes provided to ministerial aides would translate into an increase of good governance and improvement of performance in their respective ministries.
He also noted that the KAS would continue to support the government of Nigeria, assuring the minister and participants that he looked forward to a deeper tie with both countries.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Mrs Olusola Idowu, in her vote of thanks, appreciated the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning for initiating the training programme in partnership with KAS.
She assured the German Government of a more robust and deeper relationship.
