President Bola Tinubu has inaugurated a 31-member Presidential Economic Coordination Council comprising himself, the Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), among others.
This comes three months after the President established the committee on March 27, 2024.
The president also presented the outcomes of his review of the accelerated stabilisation and advancement plan, which seeks to inject N2 trillion into the economy in the next six months.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, led selected members of the Council to brief State House correspondents on Thursday.
According to Edun, health, agriculture, and energy/power sectors will be prioritised in the emergency funding.
The breakdown is as follows, N350bn for Health and Social Welfare, N500bn for Agriculture and Food Security; N500bn for the Energy and Power sector, and general business support of about N650bn.
“The President has just inaugurated the Presidential Economic Coordination Council and that is a body that is made up of the President’s Economic Management Team, the Legislature, represented by the leaders of the National Assembly; the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as very importantly, the sub-nationals, represented by the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, and, of course, the elite of the private sector,” Edun said.
“They were presented with the outcomes of Mr. President’s review of the accelerated stabilization and advancement plan that was an emergency plan to cover the next six months, which Mr. President had directed that a combination of his own Economic Management Team and the sub-nationals, the governor’s level, and the private sector put together for his consideration.”
“In addition to a range of policy measures and tax measures, there is a range of executive orders which Mr. President has signed and which are being gazetted to ease the cost of doing business at this particular time”, he said.
President Tinubu also announced the constitution of the council, which he personally chairs, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, on March 27, 2024.
The PECC comprises 13 ministers, the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Yemi Cardoso, and the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State, among others.
Other members of the PECC include the Ministers of Agriculture and Food Security; Aviation and Aerospace Development and Budget and Economic Planning.
Others include Ministers of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy; Industry, Trade and Investment; Labour and Employment; Marine and Blue Economy; Power; State, Petroleum Resources; State, Gas; Ministers of Transportation and Works.
The council also comprises 13 persons drawn from the organised private sector including the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; UBA Chairman, Mr. Tony Elumelu; BUA Founder, Abdulsamad Rabiu, among others.
The members of the organised private sector would serve on the council for a one-year tenure.
They include Ms. Amina Maina, Mr. Begun Ajayi-Kadir, Mrs. Funke Okpeke and Dr. Doyin Salami, Mr. Patrick Okigbo, Mr. Kola Adesina, Mr. Segun Agbaje, Mr. Chidi Ajaere, Mr. Abdulkadir Aliu and Mr. Rasheed Sarumi.
