New Ministers to begin work on 2020 budget

The newly sworn-in ministers are to commence work on the 2020 budget proposal, and get it ready before National Assembly members return from their recess.

They are also expected to sign the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) form, and return to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) within two weeks.

The SGF, Boss Mustapha, earlier made the announcement before the ministers were assigned their portfolios on Wednesday.

The Federal Government had in June, commenced the process for the preparation of the 2020 budget with a directive to Ministries, Departments and Agencies to avoid inflating their personnel budget.

The immediate past Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, had in the 2020 Personnel Budget Call Circular warned chief executives of all agencies of the government against the introduction of ghost workers in their personnel payroll, adding that such action would not be condoned.

The circular was sent to the Chief of Staff to the President, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President, all ministers, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, all Service Chiefs and the Inspector-General of Police.

Others who got the circular includes, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, all Chairmen of Commissions, all Permanent Secretaries/Heads of Extra-Ministerial Departments and the Auditor-General of the Federation.

Addressing the Ministers, Mustapha said: “You are expected to familiarise yourselves with the permanent secretaries of various ministries and within this period, set out to work particularly on the budget, and taking cognizance of the fact that we have assured the National Assembly that we are sending the budget immediately they return from the recess.

“We will send out the ministerial mandate for you to review within two weeks with the permanent secretaries assigned to your ministries and attach your signatures and return for the purposes of safe keep and also monitoring and co-ordination.”