By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Post) — The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has commended the Japanese Government for aligning its development assistance programmes with the development needs of Nigeria.
Senator Udoma who made the commendation when members of Japanese Parliament led by Mr. Kiyoshi Ejima, visited him in Abuja, said Japan’s contributions to Nigeria in the areas of health, education, power, infrastructure and agriculture through its Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) programme fits into the priority areas of government and very valuable to the overall development agenda of the current administration.
“The assistance has been very helpful because it focuses on our priorities, particularly in agriculture, industrialization, transportation, power and oil and gas which are also the priority areas of focus in Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). So, the assistance you are giving are in our priority areas”, he said.
Udoma told the parliamentarians that Nigeria is a country in a hurry for rapid economic development and therefore cherishes its relationship with, and willing to learn from the experiences of a country like Japan which has done extremely well in its economic development strides. The Minister explained that there are a number of opportunities for foreign investment in Nigeria and government has introduced a number of policies and initiatives to make doing business in the country easy and convenient for investors.
While acknowledging the contributions of the Japanese government to various aspects of Nigeria’s national life, he assured the parliamentarians that Nigeria appreciates the benefits of such development assistance.
He belief that continued collaboration between the two countries can generate mutual benefits for national of both countries.
The Minister of State in the Ministry, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, observed that it was the first time parliamentarians from any country would visit Nigeria to monitor the progress of development assistance programmes, a development she said was welcome because it also puts the receiving country on notice that utilization was being monitored.