President Bola Tinubu has set up a tripartite Economic Advisory Committee comprising the Federal Government, sub-nationals and the private sector.
This is part of measures to tackle the ongoing hardship in the country occasioned by fuel subsidy removal and the fall in naira.
The setting up of the committee was the outcome of Tinubu’s meeting with key players in the private sector on Sunday evening.
Among those present were governors Charles Soludo (Anambra) and Dapo Abiodun (Ogun); Aliko Dangote, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Tony Elumelu, and Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir (Director-General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN) among other Nigerian business moguls.
Tinubu, while speaking stated that the goal of setting up the committee was to provide additional efforts in stabilising the economy and ensuring the best economic future for Nigerians.
He stressed the need to look at what is being done rightly or wrongly to revive the economy, saying that the Nigerian people remain the centerpiece of government’s actions.
The President said government is exploring additional ideas to help the masses in its bid to provide assurance that the economy is on its way back to recovery.
He said “Let’s look at what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong to bring life back to the economy. Like I said, many times, the people of this country are only the people who we have to please. And we are very much concerned from students to mothers and fathers, farmers, the traders and realising that everyone of us will have to fetch water from the same well.
“We’re looking for additional efforts that might help the downtrodden Nigerians and we will provide that hope and reassurance that economic recovery is on its way.
“We are not saying that we have all the answers. But we will not be blamed for not trying. We assure Nigerians that we will do our best to get our Marshall plan in place and fashion out the best economic future for this country.”
Speaking in an interview later, Governor Soludo affirmed that the meeting was designed to “put heads together and think together.”
He added: “We have one national economy, and it’s the responsibility of the 225 million Nigerians to work together to make it great and we have all the potentials and we have all that it takes to make Nigeria ride through these turbulent times and put the economy back on a sustainable keel.
In his remark, Governor Abiodun assured that all hands are on deck as he said that all governors have joined hands with the president “to ensure that he provides the necessary intervention to cushion the effect of what we’re going through, whilst we are waiting for the implementation and the evidence of the fiscal and monetary policies that are already in place.”
He added: “So, the teeming public should have that confidence that we’re not leaving them alone.”
Abiodun assured that everything will be done to bring succour to the common man.
