In Abuja — Governors, yesterday, disagreed with the leadership of the National Assembly over their call for the redeployment or outright removal of two ministers for their inability to effectively manage the economy, which had since slipped into recession.
It will be recalled that many of the outspoken senators, fresh from their vacation, on Wednesday, had called for the outright sack or redeployment of the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, and his Finance counterpart, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who are saddled with the task of managing the ailing economy as a means of expediting its recovery from recession.
The heated debate, which once again, brought to the fore, the division in the Senate, came barely 24 hours after the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, had pleaded with the Federal Government to consider the sale of oil assets to quicken the recovery of the economy from recession and provide relief to suffering Nigerians.
But rising from the NEC meeting presided over by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the members expressed support for the plans and proposals of the Federal Government to steer the country out of recession. While acknowledging the current economic challenges facing the nation, the governors endorsed the work of the President’s Economic Management Team and specifically commended the ministers of Budget and National Planning, and Finance.
One of the governors at the NEC meeting told our correspondent that the members expressed confidence in the two ministers, attesting to their efforts, competence and capabilities in managing the nation’s economy.
The governor said they were convinced that Nigeria’s economic crisis was not caused by the two ministers but by failing oil price, the only major source of income.
The NEC members appeared to have been impressed with the presentation by the two ministers pointing to crucial steps being taken by the Federal Government to re-jig the economy and end the suffering of Nigerians.
Udoma had revealed, among others, that the economy slipped into recession due to the nation’s over-dependence on oil, which price the country had no control over but expressed optimism that the crisis was an opportunity for restructuring and resetting the economy for growth and development.
According to him, ‘’the President’s EMT is working on a number of strategies to generate immediate larger injection of funds into the economy through asset sales, advance payment of licence renewals, infrastructure concessioning and use of recovered funds to reduce funding gaps as well as fast-track procedures through legislation and implementation of strategic plan of the budget.’’
Affordable housing plan by FG:
Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, who briefed the council on efforts to raise housing stock in the country, announced that the government had set aside N1 billion to operate PPP (N500 billion initial) to create a blended pool of long term funds to intervene in housing development finance and mortgage provision. She said the fund was aimed at delivering family housing, priced from as low as N2.5 million up to N18 million delivered in a ready-to-occupy condition with essential services (water and power connected). The minister said: “The delivery target is 400,000 to 500,000 housing units per annum and the ultimate aim of the programme is to channel funds from savers to borrowers, so that builders have the required capital to construct and prospective buyers can access credit to purchase. “The fund will attract low cost local and international capital, including from domestic pension and insurance funds, Federal Government funding and contributions from State Governments and other agencies.” She also reported to Council that balance in the Excess Crude Account as at September 20, 2016, stood at $2.453 billion.
Roles of the states: She, however, said that under the housing programme, states would be expected to, among others, designate a liaison with whom Family Homes Fund could interface; expedite building plan approval process, security of land title and invest in enabling infrastructure e.g. federal roads. According to her, the programme will not only bring about improved urban planning and development but will also generate employment and skills as well as expand the tax base.
Budget support loan facility
On the budget support loan fund, the minister announced that N50 billion had so far been disbursed to state governments, while more are to benefit from the loan.
Why CBN floated cautious forex regime:
Making his presentation at the meeting, Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, defended the introduction of what he called cautious monetary orientation as dictated by consumer price and exchange rate and the adoption of policy tightening measures for flexible forex rate to address persistent pressures occasioned by scarcity and speculative demands.
Emefiele said the measure was aimed at controlling inflation, which is key to stabilizing other macro-economic indices, adding that the current stance of monetary policy was expected to continue to help lock-in inflation expectations.
The Vice President is the Chairman of the NEC, which advises the President on economic affairs of the federation and in particular on measures necessary for the coordination of the economic planning in the country.
NEC is composed of governors of all 36 states of the federation, and the Central Bank Governor.
