TheCable

Zainab Ahmed, minister of state for budget and national planning, says the federal government has no plan to retrench civil servants.

Charles Dafe, director of information in the ministry, quoted Ahmed (pictured) as saying this when Makhtar Diop, vice-president African Region, World Bank, visited her in Abuja.

According to Dafe, Ahmed said the present administration was committed to removing ghost workers from the public system, and making a thorough scrutiny on public expenditure to guarantee better returns on expenditure.

“This is to ensure that Nigerians receive better returns on their expenditure, especially, in the productive sector of the economy,’’ Dafe said in a statement.

He said the minister requested the assistance of the World Bank to address the challenges confronting the country’s agricultural and economic sectors.

“We shall send some of our specific requests to your bank, like assistance in agriculture and public expenditure review,” the statement read.

“Empowering our National Bureau to perform household, inflation and poverty measurement surveys, including approaching other development partners to provide more grants support to Nigeria.’’

The statement also quoted Diop as saying World Bank understood the present plight of Nigeria, the challenges of security and present fall in oil price resulting in dwindling revenue.