FEC okays National Forest Trust Fund
By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Abuja
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr. Udoma Udo Udoma, has told journalists that the 2017 Budget which was officially transmitted to the Presidency last week was still being reviewed and analysed by ministers, “after which recommendations would be made to the President before it is signed.”
“When the budget is approved, we first analyse it, review it and then make our recommendations to the President. We are working hard; we are still in the analysing process and getting input from the ministers,” he said.
He stated this yesterday while addressing State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
He also said the first quarter Gross Domestic Product (DGP) figures released by the National Bureau for Statistics on Tuesday were encouraging because they indicated that government interventions are working.
He said: “This is the best figures released in four quarters and there is still enough time to make more efforts to stimulate the economy.
“We found the First quarter GDP performance encouraging, the best we have had in four quarters and it is a sign that we are moving out of recession.
“We realise that we still have to work very hard and we will continue with the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.
We believe that the interventions we are making and the steps we are taking are in the right direction.
“The results that were released were for one quarter. There are still three-quarters and we have enough time to do better we will work hard to continue to stimulate the economy to meet our target.”
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Environment, Mr. Usman Jibrin, disclosed that FEC had approved the establishment of a National Forest Trust Fund to be financed by the major wood stakeholders in the country.
