— Sets up advisory committee to make recommendations
President Bola Tinubu has said that his administration does not have all the answers to the nation’s challenges but it cannot be blamed for not trying to set things right.
He made the declaration at a meeting with some state governors and a select group of members of the organized private sector at the presidential villa, Abuja on Sunday.
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).
The group has now been formed as a presidential advisory committee to meet from time to time and make recommendations to the president on stabilizing the economy.
Tinubu 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.
He 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.
President Tinubu told the meeting: “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.
“I think there is unity of purpose, determination, the sense of patriotism and determination by all to make it happen and by the special grace of God, it’s now the execution, execution execution.
“And this is a standing committee that will be meeting from time to time to evaluate how things are going and make recommendations to Mr. President and to the nation as well.”
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.
Also speaking Dangote affirmed that the meeting discussed the economy, food security and security of the nation.
He stated: “We discussed everything in detail. And there is the economic presidential advisory committee which has been set up and I think this will look at all the issues and address them, coming from job creation, food security, coming from also reflected the economy.
“So, all these things they have been discussed in detail. I can’t give you all the details right now, but we are hopeful and we’re a great nation. We have what it takes to turn around the economy and we’re going to do that.”
As for Samad Rabiu, the meeting “was open, it was frank and it was exhaustive. And some of the issues we discussed for example, like the foreign exchange rate, which we know has always been the problem for the past two or three months.
“We discussed on how to bring the foreign exchange rate down because we all know that what is happening as regards the foreign exchange is artificial, it is manipulative and thank God the CBN is doing quite a lot.
“Now, the exchange rate has come down from N1800 to maybe 1600 and N1500 now, and as you all know, everything in Nigeria is indexed to the foreign exchange, especially when it comes to stuff that we import into the country.”
Elumelu affirmed: “I left this meeting with a lot of enthusiasm, excitement and optimism about the future of our country. I believe that implementing the decisions we arrived at today will have propel our economy and help alleviate the poverty in the land, help create employment and help put food on table.”
In his remark, MAN DG noted that the private sector is looking forward to the implementation of most of the decisions from the meeting.
He added: “Manufacturers are looking forward to an environment that is conducive to business. And so the issues surrounding foreign exchange, insecurity and general operating environment were discussed and we received the assurances of Mr. President that very soon, we are going to start to see some major changes.
“And I think the advisory committee that has been formed, the private sector will play a very significant role, and Nigerians, going forward should be hopeful that we are having solutions to the challenges that we have.”
