The National Economic Council (NEC), on Thursday, approved the plans of the federal government to beat the current economic recession.
The council, made up of the 36 governors and the central bank governor, and chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, expressed support for the plans and proposals of Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, and Udo Udoma, minister of budget and national planning.
The council said the duo were working assiduously to steer Nigeria out of the current economic recession driven by a plunge in crude oil prices, the mainstay of the economy.
“While acknowledging the current economic challenges and difficulties, state governors at the meeting also endorsed the work of the president’s economic management team and specifically commended the budget and planning and finance ministers,” Laolu Akande, special assistant to the vice president, said in a statement.
Adeosun and Udoma were subject of heated discussions at the national assembly on Wednesday and Thursday, as some senators called for their removal.
Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president, and Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to remove or redeploy both ministers.
The move, which was seen as largely political, was immediately rebuffed by Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna central, who said their removal will not get Nigeria out of recession.
Sani went on to support Adeosun’s call for a cut in interest rate to drive growth in the economy.
“We must cut interest rates, start diversification of the economy, empower small businesses so that they will be able to produce and export. The key to getting out of this is export of goods and services,” Sani had said.
“Removing the minister of finance will not be able to get us out of this problem because this recession is not Nigeria’s alone. It is all countries that are dependent on oil revenue”.
Buhari, in an article from New York, said Nigerian must not be distracted by the current lamentations surrounding the country’s economic situation.
He said the necessary lessons had been learnt, and that the country will never rely on oil again.
Outlining the work being done in Nigeria, Buhari said “since I signed the 2016 budget into law in May, Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance has released more than 400 billion naira for infrastructure spending — more than the total amount spent in 2015.”
“Nigeria is on the rise, but that this ‘Rising’ is real and lasting — one that touches not just the statistical databases, but the lives of the people who elected us to deliver positive change”.
Atiku Bagudu, governor of Kebbi state, said the management team briefed NEC that it was working on plans to “generate immediate larger injection of fund into the economy through: asset sales, advance payment of license renewals, infrastructure concessioning, use of recovered funds to reduce funding gaps”.
He added that the team also spoke on implementation of fiscal stimulus/budget priorities, fast-tracking procedures through legislation and implementation of strategic, implementation plan (SIP) of the budget, meaningful diversification of the economy and cutting down on importation.
Abiola Ajumobi, governor of Oyo, said the council was briefed on the land use act of 2013, which seeks to make provisions to streamline mortgage transactions and clearly delineate the rights, duties and obligations of a mortgage.
“Other aspects of the draft are: conditions for disposal of proceeds of sale and subsequent mortgages and implied terms of a mortgage; rights of redemption and remedies and issues on mortgage by companies; power of assignment by mortgage and right of transfer and application of insurance money by the receiver”.
Ajimobi added that Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, briefed the council on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative on affordable housing.
”Target of N1 billion fund to operate PPP (N500 billion initial) to create a blended pool of long term funds to intervene in housing development finance and mortgage provision,” he said.
“Funds aims to deliver family housing priced from as low as N2.5 million up to N18 million delivered in a ready to occupy condition with essential services (water and power connected)
“The delivery target is 400,000 to 500,000 housing units per annum. The ultimate aim of the programme is to channel funds from savers to borrowers, so that builders have the required capital to construct and prospective buyers can access credit to purchase.
“The fund will attract low cost local and international capital, including from domestic pension and insurance funds, FG funding, as well as contributions from State Governments and other agencies.”
On her part, Yetunde Onanuga, deputy governor of Ogun, said Adeosun reported to the council the balance in excess crude account in US dollars, which stood at $2.453 billion as at September 2016.
“Also at the council meeting another presentation was made on best options for managing the flow train forex policy introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria,” she said.
“This was a joint presentation by the Governor of Central Bank and the Minister of Finance, the highlights are that the CBN should introduce special monetary policy in the nation as dictated by consumer price and exchange rate.”
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