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 that no member of NEC should anticipate vacation considering the weight of responsibilities they are expected to shoulder.
Speaking on Thursday during the 138th meeting of NEC which held virtually, Shettima said President Bola Tinubu has shown that the challenges inherited by his administration are surmountable, and has offered visionary leadership and presented a coherent development plan to assist in the country’s pursuit of order, abundance, and stability.
The Vice President stressed the need for the citizens to feel the positive impact of fuel subsidy removal and FOREX unification, explaining that high inflation and cost of living are global challenges that have affected the economies of all countries.
Meanwhile, following deliberations on critical economic matters and assessments of potential short-term, medium and long-term strategies for addressing pressing economic issues, NEC has set up a Committee on Economic Affairs, as well as that on Crude Oil Theft And Management.
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The committees are to be headed by Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazak and his Imo State counterpart, Hope Uzodimma.
The Economic Matters Committee to be chaired by Kwara State Governor, AbdulRazaq 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.
The second committee on Crude Oil Theft and Management, an existing NEC committee, has been reconstituted with Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State as the chairman.
NEC received an update on account balances as at 31st October 2023. Excess Crude Account 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 31st October 2023 stood at N156,770,745,529.74.
(Editor: Ken Eseni)
