The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, on Tuesday received a copy of the draft Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) document, which forms the basis for the 2023-2027 cooperation agreement.

Bagudu received the document during a courtesy visit by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) team, which is also a party to the agreement, in Abuja.

He said that the constitution of the committee was sequel to the request of the past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2021, for UNIDO to upscale its country programme 2018-2022 in its next programme cycle starting from 2023 to 2027.

“The assignment of the committee was to align the proposed Nigeria PCP (2023-2027) priority areas with the National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2025, and identify sources of funding for the PCP during the programme period.

“The committee presented its report in August 2022, the proposed total budget for PCP Nigeria 2023-2027 of 174.585 million dollars  and how it is to be sourced.

“Government counterpart ccontribution is 14.3 per cent using the structure for financing of NDP 2021 – 2025: 24.965 million dollars and UNIDO/Partner’s contributions 85.7 per cent 149.619 million dollars,” Bagudu said.

He expressed satisfaction with the document due to its gender inclusiveness.

“Women are strong factors and they are very enterprising,” he said.

Earlier, the Regional Director of UNIDO, Mr Jean Bakola, said that the organisation had achieved a lot of development in the country.

“We have engaged many women in the private sector, and we have also developed some projects for agriculture, small and medium-sized enterprises.

“We have done a lot for the energy sector and capacity building,” Bakola said.

He commended President Bola Tinubu for appointing Bagudu as minister, and promised to continue working with him in the overall interest of Nigeria.