FG to foreign donors: Don’t design programmes for us, we will state our needs

The federal government says it will, henceforth, give direction to international donor agencies on the country’s needs.

Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget and national planning made this known on Monday while speaking at a meeting with directors and heads of units at the ministry of budget and national planning.

Ahmed, who was recently reappointed as a minister, said she will convene a meeting with all foreign donors to present what Nigeria needs to them.

NAN quoted her as saying that henceforth, no foreign donor should design a programme in the name of assisting the country.

There are a number of aid organisations working in Nigeria on different focus areas including girl-child education, water, healthcare and assisting victims of insurgency in the north-east.

Ahmed also directed her team at the ministry of budget and national planning to begin another planning process for the country as vision 2020 programme would soon elapse.

She enjoined relevant stakeholders involved to consult widely and come up with a national planning programme that could be run between 10 years and 15 years.

The Vision 2020 was developed in 2008 to pursue the goal of placing Nigeria among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020.

The Muhammadu Buhari-led administration also developed the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which was targeted of rebuilding the economy after the 2016 recession.