NPC, NEPAD to collaborate on Monitoring & Evaluation.

                                                                                                                                                                                       ABUJA (National Planning Commission Report) –

The National Planning Commission and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) have agreed to intensify collaboration in the area of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of government projects and programmes towards the realisation of the Transformation Agenda and other national plans.

The Special Adviser to the President on NEPAD, Fidelia Njeze initiated the development through a call for closer co-operation between the two agencies when he paid a courtesy visit on the Supervising Minister of National Planning, Bashir Yuguda on Thursday May 15, 2014 in his office. The visit was a precursor to the planned Conference of Directors of Planning, Research and Statistics (DPRS) scheduled for next week as collaboration between the NPC, NEPAD and other relevant government agencies.

While speaking at the event, Bashir Yuguda described monitoring and evaluation as  the key mandate of NPC, stressing that M&E has now been institutionalised in the commission. He also underscored the need for NPC and NEPAD to deepen their collaboration in the area of M&E, arguing that the Commission has the capacity to deliver in that area.

According to the Minister, the performance contract initiated by the Commission underscores the significance of NPC in the implementation of evidence-based development programmes. “We need to cooperate more with NEPAD in the area of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) which is now institutionalised in the Commission. The NPC has the mandate to develop M & E in the national and sub-national levels and we have the manpower to deliver in this area,” he said.

Yuguda expressed the need for regional co-operation among the African nations, in order to fast-track economic integration and development in the continent. He further noted that the recent re-basing of the nation’s gross domestic product has clearly positioned Nigeria’s economy as the largest in Africa.

He intensified that African countries need to cooperate more regionally, especially now that Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa – GDP wise. Adding, with the new picture we now have on the performance of different sectors of our economy and the diversification already attained, NEPAD should explore new areas of collaboration, particularly in emerging sectors as entertainment and ICT.

In her remarks earlier, Fidelia Njeze explained that NEPAD focuses on facilitating effective monitoring of development projects and programmes of government, adding that the nation’s Transformation Agenda and the M & E processes are consistent with the NEPAD agenda. Njeze further  urged NPC to cooperate with NEPAD in the mainstreaming of the NEPAD Action Plans and national programmes of action into national priorities during the development of the 2nd National Implementation Plan of NV20:2020 as well as in the future development plans for the country.