By Chesa Chesa
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday inaugurated his Presidential Economic Coordination Council (PECC) comprising members from public and private sectors, even as he announced plans of his administration to urgently seek and inject N2 trillion into the economy over the next six months.
During the inauguration at the State House, Abuja, Tinubu presented the outcomes of his review of the accelerated stabilization and advancement plan.
Briefing State House correspondents after the inauguration, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, gave a breakdown of the areas to benefit from the emergency funding to include Health, Agriculture, Energy/Power and others.
Edun said the Council is made up of the President’s Economic Management Team, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, and the “elite” of the private sector.
“They were presented with the outcomes of Mr. President’s review of the accelerated stabilization and advancement plan and 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.
“The song of that very important exercise is that a N2 trillion package involving N350 billion funding for Health and Social Welfare; N500 billion funding for Agriculture and Food Security; N500 billion for the Energy and Power sector and general business support of about N650 billion.
“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.
Another member of the Council, and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu said it was time to put food on the table of Nigerians at affordable prices, while disclosing that Tinubu called for an improvement of daily oil production.
He said with the full participation of the private sector in the Tinubu’s government, things would improve for better and more jobs created.
On his part, Africa’s richest man, President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote said that the Council would advise the government on the kind of policies to implement for the good of the people.
Besides, the private sector would invest heavily on the economy in order to create jobs and turn the economy around within months.
Tinubu announced the constitution of the Council, which he chairs, in March 2024, and other members include Vice-President Kashim Shettima, Vice-Chairman; President of the Nigerian Senate; Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum; Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Ministers of Agriculture and Food Security; Aviation and Aerospace Development and Budget and Economic Planning.
Others are 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 PECC, which also comprises 13 key members of the organized private sector, joining for a period not exceeding one year, subject to the President’s directive include Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Mr. Tony Elumelu, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, Ms. Amina Maina, Mr. Begun Ajayi-Kadir, Mrs. Funke Okpeke and Dr. Doyin Salami.
Other PECC members from the private sector are Mr. Patrick Okigbo, Mr. Kola Adesina, Mr. Segun Agbaje, Mr. Chidi Ajaere, Mr. Abdulkadir Aliu and Mr. Rasheed Sarumi.
