Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, on Sunday, reviewed his stewardship and concluded that he had delivered on the critical assignments given to him by President Muhammadu Buhari consequent upon his appointment and inauguration into his cabinet on August 21, 2019.
Agba spoke on two different occasions- a get-together organised by his wife, Princess Catherine to thank his aides, and a thanksgiving church service- in Abuja.
At the first event on Saturday night, Agba reeled out a number of achievements in the saddle as Minister in the last four years.
He listed them to include the emplacement of a predictable annual budget cycle (January to December); a medium-term National Development Plan (2021-2025) and the perspective Plan, christened Nigeria Agenda 2050, and a framework of National Monitoring and Evaluation Policy as well as the Eyemark, a Web app that uses geo spatial technology, which citizens in Nigeria and in the Diaspora can download on their android phones to track execution of federal government’s capital projects countrywide and report progress to the authorities.
Agba thanked President Buhari for appointing him on the recommendation of a former Edo governor and ex national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, whom he described as a dependable leader.
In her welcome address at the get-together held in the serene environment of their Abuja home, Princess Catherine Agba, had noted that without the dedication of aides, her husband’s assignment as minister would not have been as successful as it had been.
She recognised the assistance given to the minister in the writing of his speeches, his media projections, his protocolian arrangements, his security details, his movements in convoys during travels, his secretariat, the culinary department, and everyone in other departments that did one thing or another to keep him away from worries so he could not only sharply focus on the job but also shine.
She particularly referenced the minister’s immediate staff members who were always with him, leaving their families during the Christmas seasons and other seasons to be with the minister’s family in Uzanu.
She thanked them for their sacrifice of love.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Engr Nnebolisa Anako and the Director of International Cooperation, Dr Lanre Adekanye, were present on the occasion to give their significant support.
Engineer Anako, in his remarks, described Agba as a brilliant and hardworking minister who “works hard and also plays hard,” adding that “the minister knows how to do good things.”
The minister in his remarks announced to the guests that the idea of the get-together and the gesture of appreciation and recognition accorded to all his aides was his wife’s.
He noted that the last three years and nine months had been productive, adding that “the next one week is going to be rigorous, and we should get to the finishing tape stronger that we started.”
At the thanksgiving service at the Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim.and Seraphim (ESOCS) in Abuja to appreciate God for His grace in the discharge of his duties, he told the congregants of the Church, where he is an elder, how on his watch at the ministry, he was able to deliver on three critical presidential assignments.
The Church’s pastorate had prayed for the minister’s family and the nation, asking God for peace, progress, and development to reign now and under the incoming administration.
The prayer followed the sermon by His Eminence, Elder Barrister Isaac Imo, entitled: “The dry bones shall live again.”
Friends and well wishers attended the church service. They included the Statistician General of the Federation, Prince Adeniran Adeyemi, Director General of Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, NISER, Professor Antonia Simbine, Director of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Dr Lanre Adekanye, Director of Administration in the Ministry Mr Tayo Adeyemi,Director of Economic Growth, Mrs Elizabeth Egharevba, and Director, Special Duties and National Coordinator of Open Government Partnership (OGP), Dr Gloria Ahmed.
The list also had a leader of the APC in Edo State, Mr Jarret Tenebe, a former Commissioner in Edo State, Barrister Donald Osikhena, a Commissioner at the NDIC, Mr Simon Ogie, a former Chief of Staff to Edo Governor, Mr Taiwo Akerele, National Coordinator FG-CARES Support Unit, Dr Abdlkareem Obaje and Chairman, FG-CARES Tecnical Committee, Mr Aso Vakporaye, who all commended the leadership of Prince Agba and the achievements recorded by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning on his watch.
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