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….Says high unemployment unacceptable
…..We inherited a bad economy – Edun
…..Plans to create 50m jobs – Anite
….FG policies, programmes will impact Nigerians- Idris
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu on Monday at the maiden edition of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), gave marching orders to ministers to roll out action plans aimed at the reviving the economy and make life more bearable for the people.
He gave the charge while addressing the cabinet members at the opening of the maiden meeting of the Federal Executive Council.
He said: “We have talents; we have the level of intellectuals and capacity to turn this country around. You and I know that the expectation is high and there is a tough time right now therefore we must work hard, commit ourselves and create a buoyant economy that will serve every Nigerian.”
He further charged the Ministers to work as a team, insisting that they stay focused as they discharge their responsibilities, the country will move forward.
“Everyone of you is a member of this team, we can do whatever we want from our areas of responsibility but it all depends on you. If you stay focused, we will all arrive at a better destination and the country will be better for it,” he said.
President Tinubu, stressed that the natural endowments of the country must be properly harnessed, so as to make life better for citizens of the country.
“We must unlock the energy and natural resources of this country. We must start to produce for ourselves, dig ourselves out of the woods, focus on education, healthcare, and make social investments that are essential for the development of our people.
“Our priority areas are defined in our economic programmes. Every area is our priority and you belong in the driver’s position to realise and make that priority a fulfilling promise to the entire nation and the continent of Africa.
“We must achieve the economic growth that is expected of us. We must feed our people, we must leverage on what we have and grow more to satisfy Nigerians. It is only in your hands now,” he stated.
He assured the ministers that he is ready to listen to the yearnings of Nigerians and make corrections where necessary, as he enjoined the Ministers to be bold in taking decisions that will move the nation forward.
“I am ready to listen. Like I said to the Nigerian Bar Association yesterday, I am ready even for corrections because only God is perfect. Don’t be afraid to make decisions; that’s the problem of leadership,” he said.
Tinubu also said challenges confronting the nation like security, unemployment and food security would be addressed in order to alleviate the plight of citizens.
He noted that the country would rely on the experience, skill, intellect, and networking of those who had been appointed to make headway in the challenging times, and failure would not be explained away under his watch.
“As I said during the inauguration, I am the bus driver and you are the conductors. We have to make sure this country stays on the right path to succeed on behalf of over 200 million Nigerians. We willingly accepted the appointment and I accepted the mandate of Nigerians.
“I have delegated some of these powers to you to serve the country. You are a very lucky person to be selected among millions of Nigerians and we will use the opportunity to show that Nigeria has what it takes to dig ourselves out of our problems.
“We must find a home-grown re-engineering of our finances, manage our resources and let the economy work for the people of this country.
“There are so many things some cynics will say is impossible, but in your dictionary of service, everything is possible and must be possible. We have the talents; we have the level of intellectual capacity to turn this country around.
“You and I know that the expectation is high and it’s a tough time right now. We must work hard, commit ourselves and create a buoyant economy that will serve every Nigerian. We have an employment level that is unacceptable. We are threatened by climate change. We still have underemployment.
“But to turn things around, you have been selected to perform your utmost best. The policy agenda will be set out to reform the economy to deliver sustainable and inclusive growth, and strengthen national security for peace and prosperity. Without security there can be no investment. That is true. You have to convince them and the time is now to do that.
“When you look around the world, every leader is clamouring for what they believe on what should be there policy on food security. We have declared a state of emergency. What is your goal?
“Every one of you is a member of this team, every one of you, no partitioning. We can do whatever we want from the assignment of responsibility, but all depends on you, if you stay focused, we will all arrive at a better destination and the country will be better off for it.
“We must unlock the energy and natural resources of this country. We must start producing for ourselves, and dig ourselves out of the hole. We must focus on education, healthcare and social investment that is essential for the development of our people.
“Our priority areas are defined in our economic programmes. Every area is our priority and you belong in the driver’s position to realize and make that priority a fulfilling promise to the entire nation and the continent of Africa.
“You must achieve the economic growth that is expected of us. We must feed our people. We must leverage on what we have and grow more to satisfy Nigerians. It is all in your hands now.
He assured the ministers again that he would be willing to listen to them whenever they have concerns, saying “I am ready to listen. Like I said to NBA yesterday, I am ready even for corrections, only God is perfect. Don’t be afraid to take decisions, that’s the burden of leadership. I know some of you are still looking for offices. I believe the SGF, COS, HOSOF will work as a team to settle you down quickly.
Drawing a pictorial analogy of the task before the government, Tinubu said “imagine yourselves that in this situation you have been called upon to fetch water from a dry well. The challenges are there but we will deliver for Nigerians”.
Five ministers, including those of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris; Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun; Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Ali Pate; Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari; and that of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Anite; as well as the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, briefed the press in the outcome of the meeting.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Edun said he presented “Roadmap for the Economy”, noting that the Council agreed that the economy is not where it ought to be.
He also said that Council examined eight priority areas and identified targets to deliver in the next three years, adding that the President had charged the ministers to roll out policy and programme to turn the economy around.
“First he congratulated everybody and emphasised the high expectations of Nigerians and he encouraged us to be bold and courageous and innovative and to act with urgency in delivering a better life to all Nigerians. Essentially we went through an exercise of looking at where things stood, regarding the economy, the growth rate, the exchange rate, inflation, unemployment and so on.
“The overriding conclusion is that we’re not where we should be and we also examined the President’s eight-point agenda, that is the eight priority areas for moving the Nigerian economy forward and for delivering to Nigerians and those are basically food security; ending poverty, economic growth and job creation, access to capital, particularly consumer credit, inclusivity in all its dimensions, particularly as regards youths and women, improving security, improving the playing field on which people and particularly companies operate, rule of law, and of course, fighting corruption.
“It is around those matrix that the plans and the targets of what will be delivered in the next three years or so were identified, discussed and imputes were given by various ministers and we’ll now go away with the marching order to refine further the targets in particular and within weeks to start rolling out policies and programmes to turn around the economy and make things better for all Nigerians. That really is the substance of what the discussion was all about”, Edun said.
Describing the situation with the economy inherited by the new administration, Edun said the Tinubu administration inherited a bad economy with an unacceptable high rate of unemployment, with inflation standing at 24%.
“Per capital has fallen steadily, inflation is at 24 percent, unemployment is high, you know they are rebasing the way in which it’s calculated. Either way, it is high and youth unemployment is even unacceptably high, these are the key metrics that we have met”, he said.
Asked to be specific on the kind of economy the Tinubu administration met on ground, the Minister said, “We met a bad economy and the promise of Mr. President is to make it better”.
He also said that the federal government is not in a position to borrow money at this time, adding the emphasis is on how to create a macroeconomic environment where both local and foreign investors will invest and increase production.
“Clearly, the federal government is not in a position to borrow at this time. Rather, the emphasis has to be on creating a stable, macroeconomic environment. Stable inflation, stable exchange rate, an environment within which people can come and invest and thereby increase production and further grow the economy.
“Improve and create jobs and reduce poverty. So, the aim of all reforms at this time is to focus on what we call equity to focus on investment to attract investment investment by Nigerians. Investment by foreign direct investors and even investment by portfolio investors that want to invest in the financial aspects of the Nigerian economy, such as the stock market, such as the bond market.
“So that is the plan. That is the expectation and it is that there will not be a reliance on borrowing. Rather, as revenues increase, as the benefit of removing fuel subsidy and the subsidy on the exchange rate, those mean more money for government at all levels.
“Because, of course, through oil revenue, the federation earns dollars and if those dollars are feeding through, at let’s say, 700/750 or so naira to one dollar as opposed to 460 where it was before; clearly, that is repairing the finances of government are federal state and local government levels”, he said.
On her part, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Anite, said that the President plans to create 50 million jobs.
“In Mr. President’s manifesto during his campaigns, he promised 50 million jobs and that’s our target. We will take it in phases; we are looking at different sectors of the economy that will contribute to this job creation chief among them is the creative industry and the digital economy, and then the agric sector, agro-processing zones, and mining, oil and gas. So we’re very confident that we will achieve this”, she said.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris, assured Nigerians that they would soon, begin to feel the impact of the policies and programmes of the government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.
He said the current set of Ministers are hardworking people that are ready to work in the interest of the nation and its citizens.
He said: “The ministers are gingered and are roaring to work and the impact of all policies and programmes of government will begin to be felt by Nigerians fairly quickly.”
The Information Minister used the opportunity to caution Journalists to always cross check their facts before dishing out reports, in order not to “reproduce ignorance to citizens.”
He assured Nigerians that President Tinubu will be accountable and transparent in all his dealings, adding that all the Ministers have agreed to do likewise.
“As the President has said repeatedly, he is going to be very transparent, he is going to be very accountable to Nigerians and he is going to be as honest as possible to Nigerians and that is what all the Ministers have agreed to do.
“We know your responsibility within the constitution as members of the 4th estate of the realm yet, we expect that you show understanding of government policies and we will be as open as possible to you in programmes and projects of government and if there are questions you need to ask, please come back to us so that we don’t reproduce ignorance to Nigerians. It is important that whatever we report should be fact based,” he stated.
