By Cross Udo, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday said his administration seeks to inject N2 trillion into the economy in the next six months.
Tinubu stated this when he inaugurated his Presidential Economic Coordination Council (PECC), drawn from different sectors of society and the economy.
This came as the President of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said that the Council would sit down and advise the government on the kind of policies to implement for the good of the people.
He said that the private sector will invest heavily in the economy to create jobs, adding that the economy could be turned around within months.
Dangote said, “This is a great day that the President has inaugurated the PECC where the private sector and the public sector will work together to make sure that we better the lot of our people.
“You must have heard, what the minister of finance and coordinating Minister of the economy of the intervention that the government is going to make up to two trillion. Apart from that, we are going to sit down and advise the government on the kind of policies that the government should roll out.
“Most of these things we have them, there are already been discussed over and over again, it is a matter of implementation. I think the choice of people that are on the PECC, they are good enough to be able to advise the government on how to implement it.
“Our own from the private sector is to do our bit. Which is to invest heavily and create jobs. Government doesn’t create jobs, what they do is to give us the right policies. We have all these policies.
“We can see intervention in gas, what the Minister said earlier getting all these to work we will have additional $2bn into the economy. Other industries will also bring a lot of money into the country.
“I keep saying our issues are not that bad, this economy can be turned around within a few months and I think we are on that way. I thank the President for inaugurating this Council, we will start working immediately and I can assure you, that you will see a lot of changes coming. We have what it takes to turn around this economy. We are going to work hard to make Nigerians proud.”
Also, the Chairman of Heir Holdings and founder of Elumelu Foundation, Elumelu said it was time to put food on the table at an affordable price.
Elumelu, who expressed appreciation to the President for appointing him a member of the Council, said that President Tinubu called for an improvement of daily oil production.
He said with the full participation of the private sector in Tinubu’s government, things would improve for the better, and more jobs created.
*Tinubu unveils N2trn six-month economic stabilisation plan
Meanwhile, the President at the inauguration, 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 including Health, Agriculture, Energy/Power, and other areas.
According to him, “The President has just inaugurated the Presidential Economic Coordination Council and that is a body that is made up of the President’s Economic Management Team.
“The legislature is represented by the leaders of the National Assembly; the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as very importantly, the sub-nationals, represented by the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum.
“And of course, the elite of the private sector; the likes of Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Industries, and as we have here, Mr Tony Elumelu, but also top economists, Dr Doyin Salami, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, as well as some of the younger businessmen playing in the major league of the stock exchange quoted businesses and financial organizations. So it is a mix of the top talents and the top stakeholders available within the Nigerian business sector.
“That Council will meet and report to Mr President monthly and today they were presented with the outcomes of Mr President’s review of the accelerated stabilization and advancement plan 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 governors level, and the private sector put together for his consideration.
“The song of that very important exercise is that a N2trn package involving N350bn funding for Health and Social Welfare; N500b funding for Agriculture and Food Security; N500bn for the Energy and Power sector and general business support of about N650bn.
“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.
“There are several funds 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 stabilise 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.”
The Minister further said that the President’s focus was on food production, food security, and nutrition security, adding that he has ordered the Food Security and Nutrition Council to immediately go to work.
“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,” he said.
He further said, “In addition, the commitment to reducing the losses in the crude oil sector and in fact, getting crude oil production and sales up to two million barrels a day was another target, another commitment that 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.”
He said two major projects that the government has committed to complete are the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline expected to be completed by the end of this year or latest first quarter of next year.
“That will provide a surfeit and surplus gas supply for power for industry, for residential use, for fertiliser along that corridor, and allow private business to come in and revive industries, revive jobs and economic activity along that corridor.
“Secondly, the OB3 pipeline that carries gas from the east of the Niger Delta to the West has been in the making. That project has been on for 17 years and it is now under President Bola Tinubu. We are looking at a completion date of next month.
Recall that President Tinubu announced the constitution of the Council, which he personally chairs, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, on March 27, 2024.
The members of the PECC are 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 include 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.
