President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has presented a N2 trillion stabilization and advancement plan to the Presidential Economic Coordination Council (PECC).
This is as Tinubu, on Thursday, inaugurated the PECC, drawn from different sectors of society in a move to stabilise the nation’s economy.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, however disclosed the stabilisation plan to State House correspondents after the inauguration of the PECC at the Presidential Villa.
PECC is made up of the President’s Economic Management Team, the leadership of the National Assembly; the sub-nationals, represented by the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, and the elite of the private sector; comprising of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Tony Elumelu, Doyin Salami, Bismarck Rewane, among others.
That Council is expected to meet and report to the President monthly.
Edun said after inauguration the council was presented with the outcomes of the 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.”
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The money is expected to assist in turning around the Critical sectors of the economy and boost job creation.
He said in addition to a range of policy measures and tax measures, there is a range of executive orders which President has signed and which are being gazetted to ease the cost of doing business at this particular time.
According to him, “There’re number of funding which will reduce the interest rate for certain sectors in the economy, the small and medium scale in particular, but also some larger companies, there is a line of credit that will allow them to fund cheaper than the elevated rates.
“This plan is a means of trying to stabilize the economy and get business growing again, we know what has happened since the macro-economic measures, which were necessary and which have been implemented in a determined and consistent manner, led to elevated costs, both for industry and for individuals.
“I will say that the number one priority that Mr. President focused on was food production, food security, nutrition security. He has ordered that the Food Security and Nutrition Council to immediately go to work and the Vice President said they had a meeting on the food system just yesterday. So the commitment to providing food at an affordable price and in available quantities is uppermost in Mr. President’s mind at this particular time.”
The Minister also said as part of the commitment to reducing the losses in the crude oil sector, getting crude oil production and sales up to 2 million barrels a day, “another target and commitment was made today as one of the measures that can assist the whole society by providing not just additional revenue, but additional foreign exchange liquidity to the economy.”
