Vice President Kashim Shettima has charged members of the National Economic Council 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.
He said this during the 138th meeting of NEC which held virtually, the VP said his principal, President Ahmed 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 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 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 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 Kwara State Governor, Alh AbdulRahman AbdulRazak, and his Imo State counterpart, Senator Hope Uzodimma, respectively.
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.
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.
