FG ‘begins’ preparations for 2017 budget

The ministry of budget and national planning says it has begun preparations for the 2017 budget.

Charles Dafe, director of information in the ministry, said this in a statement made available to NAN in Abuja.

The statement said Zainab Ahmed, minister of state, budget and national planning, disclosed this when the association of national accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) paid her a courtesy visit.

She added that the federal government had also started the preparation of the medium term 2016-2020 development programme to achieve sustainable development.

The ministry also solicited the support of ANAN in building the capacity of the staff on zero-based budgeting (ZBB) application.

Ahmed appealed to the association to assist the present administration to fight corruption.

“As accountants, we can resist corruption, block illegal releases; we need to start from ourselves; we must uphold the tenets of our profession and make ourselves clean and accountable always,” she said.

“Our administration came on a change mantra; we shall be transparent and accountable to all Nigerians.”

Earlier, Anthony Nzom, president of ANAN, promised to provide technical knowledge to the staff of the ministry on ZBB concept adopted in the 2016 budget.

Nzom commended President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing two members of ANAN – Zainab Ahmed as minister and Tijjani Abdullahi as director-general of budget office.

He said the nation would benefit a lot from their professional competence and services.