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Vice President Kashim Shettima has charged members of the National Economic Council (NEC) to shelve the idea of vacation in the yuletide and carry on with issues of governance to ease the burden of Nigerians hanging on their shoulders.
He charged the council members to be alive to the demands of Nigerians, noting, “As the year draws to a close, none of us in this chamber should anticipate a vacation. I tend to think so because upon our shoulders rests the weight of responsibilities from which we cannot escape. We are returning to be judged by the promises we made to be here.”
Speaking yesterday during the 138th meeting of the NEC, which was held virtually, the VP said his principal, President Bola Tinubu, GCFR, has shown that the challenges inherited by his administration were surmountable, and has offered visionary leadership and presented a coherent development plan to assist in the country’s pursuit of order, abundance, and stability. “Each of us owes our constituents the scorecard of our stewardship in these few months of translating ideas into tangible actions. That’s why we can’t afford to fail, and the new year must be, for us, a timeout to reflect on how we have fared so far, and what we must do differently to keep the hope of the nation alive,” the Vice President stated.
Apparently keen about getting results of the government’s ongoing reforms in good time, the VP stressed the need for the citizens to feel the positive impact of fuel subsidy removal and forex unification, noting that high inflation and cost of living were global challenges that had affected the economies of all countries.
Shettima said they should be considered as enough “inspiration for us to come together and tackle ours through realistic interventions.”
Meanwhile, following deliberations on critical economic matters and assessments of potential short-term, medium and long-term strategies for addressing pressing economic issues, NEC set up the committees on economic affairs, as well as the committee on crude oil theft and management.
Both committees are to be headed by the Kwara State Governor, Alh AbdulRahman AbdulRazak, and his Imo State counterpart, Senator Hope Uzodimma, respectively.
The economic matters committee, to be chaired by Governor AbdulRahman, is saddled with the task of preparing a clear roadmap for dealing with petroleum subsidy, including a framework for defending wage negotiations, exchange rate management and fiscal consolidation sustainability, liquidity management and inflation, medium term investment and growth, fiscal transparency and accountability, as well as state of emergency on food production for 2024.
Members of the committee include the Gombe State Governor, representing the North East; the Governor of Lagos State (South West); the Governor of Akwa Ibom State (South-South); the Governor of Anambra State (South East); the Governor of Niger State (North Central), and Governor of Kaduna State (North West).
Rukaiya El-Rufai, Special Adviser to the President on NEC and Climate Change is to serve as Secretary.
The second committee on crude oil theft and management, an existing NEC committee, has been reconstituted with Governor Uzodimma as the chairman.
Other members are the Governor of Ogun State, representing the South West; the Governor of Plateau State (North Central); the Governor of Rivers State (South-South) Governor of Borno State (North East); Governor of Jigawa State (North West); the Governor of Abia State (South East); Minister of Budget and Economic Planning; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy; the CBN Governor; the GCEO of the NNPCL, the NDDC Chairman, and the Service Chiefs.
The Secretariat will be domiciled at the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, and the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr Tope Fasua, will serve on the committee.
Council also received an update on account balances as at October 31, 2023. The Excess Crude Account as at October 31, 2023, stood at $473,754.57, while the Stabilization Account was N32,063,186,474.96 during the same period. Development of natural resources account as at October 31, 2023, stood at N156,770,745,529.74.
