Date: 2016-09-16

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the current recession requires "out-of-the-box" thinking to deploy strategies that involve engaging meaningfully with the private sector to raise the level of private sector investment in the economy.

The president spoke at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday at the ministerial retreat on the economy and the budget with the theme; "Building Inter-ministerial Synergy for Effective Planning and Budgeting in Nigeria".

He expressed confidence that the level of private investment would increase as his administration was determined to make it easier to do business in Nigeria by the reforms being introduced under the auspices of the Presidential Committee on Ease of Doing Business.

He said his government would continue to strategize on how to turn the current challenges into opportunities for the nation and especially for the youth. He said: "This is why we have embarked on measures and actions that will open up the opportunities we have seen in the power, housing, agriculture, mining, trade and investment, Information Communication Technology (ICT), tourism, transport and other sectors."

The president assured the youth that his government would remain steadfast in its effort to ensure greater progress and prosperity for them. He noted that over the years, there had been a mismatch between planned targets and budgetary outcomes at the national and sectoral levels, adding that the MDAs had not also benefited significantly from working together and building consensus around common national objectives. This has impeded growth and development of the country, he said.

He said the retreat would also serve as an opportunity to have a general overview of the economy and discuss the framework for the 2017 budget, its key priorities and deliverables. Buhari said the retreat was coming at a critical time in the nation's economic history when the economy was in a recession, with significant downturn in performance in various sectors.

He said while the government was taking the lead in the task of repositioning the economy for change, it could not achieve this completely by itself. "We will need, and we ask for the support and cooperation of the private sector's domestic and foreign investors, the states and local governments, the National Assembly and the judiciary as well as all well-meaning Nigerians in this important task. We are confident that working together, we shall succeed," he said.