President Bola Tinubu on Sunday, inaugurated an Economic Advisory Committee made of up eminent players in the economic sector, including Aliko Dangote, Tony Elumelu, among others.
The committee which was set up to help Tinubu’s administration tackle the myriad of economic challenges faced by the federal government, was charged by the President to come up with a policy framework that would help his administration look at what it is doing right and what it is doing wrong to bring life back to the economy.
Speaking at the inauguration event, President Tinubu said: ”Like I said, many times, the people of this country are only the people who we have to please. We are very much concerned from students to mothers and fathers, farmers, the traders and realizing that every one of us will have to fetch water from the same well.
“We’re looking for additional efforts that might help the downtrodden Nigerians and we will provide that hope and reassurance that economic recovery is on its way.
”We are not saying that we have all the answers. But we will not be blamed for not trying. We assure Nigerians that we will do our best to get our marshall plan in place and fashion out the best economic future for this country.
Aliko Dangote, who spoke to State House Journalists after the meeting said the Committee had a very good meeting.
”What we discussed is generally about the economy, food security, and security of the nation. We discussed everything in detail. And there is the economic presidential advisory committee which has been set up and I think this will look at all the issues and address them, coming from job creation, food security, coming from also reflected the economy.
“So, all these things have been discussed in detail. I can’t give you all the details right now, but we are hopeful and we’re a great nation. We have what it takes to turn around the economy and we’re going to do that.
He described the meeting as ” open, frank and exhaustive” adding” And some of the issues we discussed for example, like the foreign exchange rate, which we know has always been the problem for the past two or three months.
”We discussed how to bring the foreign exchange rate down because we all know that what is happening as regards the foreign exchange is artificial, it is manipulative and thank God the CBN is doing quite a lot. Now, the exchange rate has come down from N1800 to maybe 1600 and N1500, and as you all know, everything in Nigeria is indexed to the foreign exchange, especially when it comes to stuff that we import into the country.
Also speaking, Tony Elumelu, said he was ”leaving the meeting with lots of enthusiasm, excitement, and optimism about the future of our country”
” I believe that implementing the decisions we arrived at today will propel our economy and help alleviate the poverty in the land, help create employment, and help put food on the table”.
Also speaking, ” Governor Charles Soludo of Abra State, said the tripartite meeting was designed to put heads together and think together.”
”We have one national economy, and it’s the responsibility of the 225 million Nigerians to work together to make it great and we have all the potential and we have all that it takes to make Nigeria ride through these turbulent times and put the economy back on a sustainable keel.
” I think there is unity of purpose, determination, the sense of patriotism and determination by all to make it happen, and by the special grace of God, it’s now the execution, execution. And this is a standing committee that will be meeting from time to time to evaluate how things are going and make recommendations to Mr. President and to the nation as well”
Also speaking on the outcome of the meeting, Governor Dapo Abiodun, said all hands will be on deck
”All governors have resolved to join hands with Mr president to ensure that he provides the necessary intervention to cushion the effect of what we’re going through, whilst we are waiting for the implementation and the evidence of the fiscal and monetary policies that are already in place.
”So the teeming public should have that confidence that we’re not leaving them alone. In my state and in other states, we are bringing in rice, we’re bringing food items and we are selling at rates that can be obtained before the downslide of the naira. So we are going to be doing all those kinds of things to bring succor to the common man until when you begin to see the evidence of the fiscal and monetary policies.”
Segun Ajayi-Kadir, Director -General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, also assured that the private sector will be looking forward to the implementation of most of the decisions that we have made with the president.
According to him, ” Manufacturers are looking forward to an environment that is conducive to business. And so the issues surrounding foreign exchange, insecurity and general operating environment were discussed and we received assurances from Mr. President that very soon we are going to start to see some major changes
”I think the advisory committee that has been formed, the private sector will play a very significant role, and Nigerians, going forward should be hopeful that we are having solutions to the challenges that we have,” he said.
