Nigeria’s National Economic Council (NEC) announced the creation of an Ad-hoc Committee to engage with the leadership of labour unions in a bid to arrive at a compromise following the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by Mr Olusola Abiola, Director of Information, Office of the Vice President, in a statement, after the 135th meeting of NEC, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima in Abuja on Thursday.
Committee
The statement revealed that the committee comprises the Nigerian Governors’ Forum Chairman, Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara, Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra state, and the Chairman of Progressives Governors Forum, Gov. Hope Uzodinma of Imo State.
Others are the PDP Governors Forum Chairman, Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, and Gov. Alex Otti of Abia State.
Palliatives
The NEC also received progress reports on the ongoing nationwide distribution of rice, grains, fertilizer and other items to States and N5 billion in financial support, provided by the Federal Government, citing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for their interventions.
Abiola said that the council noted various interventions by State governments and urged them to upscale the distribution of palliatives towards alleviating the suffering of citizens, especially vulnerable groups.
Oil Savings and FG Accounts
The NEC statement also revealed that Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account still remains below $1 million from highs of $2 billion 8 years ago, they revealed:
- “Below are other highlights of the meeting; Excess Crude Account from July 19 to Aug. 14, 2023, US$473,754.57: Stabilisation Account from July 18 to Aug. 14, N30,346,557,405.12; Natural Resources Account from July 18 to Aug. 14, N115,175,616,159.65.
- “At the 128th NEC Meeting held on Oct. 20, 2022, the then Chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, drew the attention of the council to the devastating effect of the 2022 flooding which affected about 31 States of the Federation.
- “This had resulted in the loss of over 600 lives, displacement of millions of people, destruction of hundreds of thousands of houses and thousands of hectares of farmlands submerged.
- “The governor, therefore, appealed for urgent intervention from the Federal Government to address the impact of the menace on the people and infrastructure,”
Flooding
The NEC also resolved to set up a five-man Ad-hoc Committee on flooding, comprising Governors of Jigawa, Kogi, Anambra, Bayelsa, Lagos and Yobe States.
The committee to look into the situation of flooding includes the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Minister of Water Resources, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Governor of the CBN and Director-General of NEMA, saying:
- “The Committee acknowledged the urgency of the assignment and hence the need to expedite action in order to table a draft report at the next NEC Meeting.
- “A sub-committee was constituted to propose modalities to address imminent food crisis due to the flooding and possible source of funding for palliatives to victims.
- “The Sub-committee was to be chaired by the governor of Kebbi State with the following as Members: Ministries of Agriculture, Humanitarian, Finance, NEMA and the CBN