President Bola Tinubu has inaugurated a 31-member Presidential Economic Coordination Council, comprising himself, the Vice President, the Senate President, and the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, among others.
Thursday’s inauguration comes three months after the President formed the committee on March 27, 2024.
Tinubu also presented the results of his study of the rapid stabilisation and development plan, which aims to infuse N2 trillion into the economy over the next six months.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, who led selected members of the Council to brief State House Correspondents after the briefing, said the 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 finance minister explained.
According to Edun, “The Presidential Economic Coordination Council, which the President has just inaugurated, is composed of the President’s Economic Management Team, the Legislature represented by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate and, most importantly, the sub-nationals who are symbolized by the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and, of course, the elite of the private sector.
“They were presented with the outcomes of the President’s review of the accelerated stabilization and advancement plan that was an emergency plan to cover the next six months, which the 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.
