Mr Ahonsi Unuigbe, Commissioner for Budget, Planning & Econ. Development

Ahonsi is the Commissioner for Budget, Planning and Economic Development. Prior to his appointment, he was a General-Manager at Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria Plc. (part of the Standard Bank Group), where he headed the Government & International Organisations Group, primarily responsible for managing the bank’s public sector relationships. Prior to this role Ahonsi was a political appointee in the outgoing Nigerian government administration, serving as Special – Assistant to the Minister of Finance, as part of the team that successfully concluded Nigeria’s exit from the London Club group of creditors. Ahonsi also has several years in investment banking & project finance experience, having previously worked within both Stanbic’s and Citigroup’s corporate and investment banking divisions, in a number of project finance and investment banking roles across Europe and Africa, transacting on over US$2.5 billion worth of cross border and local currency financings across a number of sectors in the process (particularly the telecomms and oil and gas sectors). Some of these financings include a US$1.06 billion brownfield project financing for Nigeria LNG Ltd., a $125 million financing for Eleme Petrochemicals and a $395 million medium-term financing for MTN Nigeria.
Ahonsi actively supports various community and economic development initiatives; and in this regard, has served in a variety of government committees and is on the board of trustees of a registered charity.

Ahonsi has an MSc in Investment banking and finance from the ISMA centre in Reading, England, a BA (Hons.) in Economics from the University of Sussex in England, an intermediate French language certification from Eurocentres in France and is a 2008 Recipient of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellowship Award.

	Objectives are:
	To advise Government on financial and economic policies designed to facilitate effective management of resources of the State;
	To institute measures that will boost the internally collected revenue of the State as well as ensure timely collection of all revenue accruing to the State;
	To conduct research into financial and general economic issues prepare and examine financial reports, memoranda, position, papers etc;
	To advise Government on Socio-economic issues;
	To control the expenditure of all Ministries and Departments and ensure prudence in all public expenditure;
	To prepare annual Estimates of Government which will embody projects and programmes and the broad objectives of the Government during the Year;
	To prepare Development Plans designed to accelerate the development of the economy and guarantee a higher standard of living and happiness for the people;
	To carry out periodic reviews of the projects and programmes in the Plan in order to ensure conformity with laid down objectives;
	To carry out inspection visits of on-going projects in the Development Plan with a view to identify bottlenecks, plan implementation and advising Government on how the bottlenecks could be minimised;
	To prepare pre-feasibility reports on projects and also analyse and appraise projects (on which there are reports) for the purpose of determining their social and economic viability;
	To co-ordinate all technical assistance programmes and liaises with the appropriate Federal Government Agencies.
	Botanical Gardens;