President Muhammadu Buhari on
Monday inaugurated the National Economic Council (NEC), with a call on State
governors to settle all unpaid workers’ salaries in their respective States.
The President, who was speaking
while inaugurating the council in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said that the
call became necessary bearing in mind the untold hardship being experienced by
the workers and their family members.
Buhari also advised the governors
to cultivate the culture of prudent management of resources as well as embark
on projects that would meet the immediate needs of the people. “It is evident
that the task of ensuring growth, job creation and equity, is quite enormous.
“This will entail looking inwards
to secure sustainable ways of increasing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and
harnessing growth potentials of each State to supplement the Federation Account
allocation to States.
“The States are also encouraged
to embark on projects that will meet immediate needs of the people taking
account of available resources.
“I therefore urge Council members
to consider, as a matter of urgency, exploring efficient means of gradually
liquidating all unpaid salaries of staff, which have brought untold hardship to
thousands of families.“
The President said that
government was fully committed to embarking on viable policies and programmes
that would restructure and transform the nation’s economy.
He spoke of the Federal
Government’s commitment to ensuring partnerships and facilitating international
efforts to tackle the issues of cross-border terrorism, sea piracy, refugees,
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), financial crime, cybercrime, climate
change and the spread of communicable diseases.
“I urge you all to ensure that we
surmount these enormous challenges facing us as a country by working to support
economic policies, which the government will soon unveil to grow our economy
and finance our external promises,“ he said.
He stressed the need for states
to work closely especially on projects such as interstate and feeder roads,
soil erosion, desertification and other developmental programmes.
He reiterated the determination
of the Federal Government to abide by the relevant sections of the constitution
to ensure more accountability and transparency in the remittance of all
revenues to consolidated revenue account.
“On its part the Federal Government
will abide by the provisions of Sections 80 and 162 of the Constitution and
ensure more accountability, transparency and integrity in the distribution of
the Federation Account.
“All revenue generating agencies
such as the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Nigeria Customs Service,
Federal Inland Revenue Service, Nigeria Ports Authority, Central Bank of
Nigeria, Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Nigeria
Liquefied Natural Gas, amongst others shall comply with stipulated Financial
Regulations and Administrative Instructions in their remittances to the
Consolidated Revenue Fund.“
Buhari said that the Nigerian
Armed Forces had shown renewed commitment and made steady progress in the fight
against Boko Haram.
According to him, Nigeria is
collaborating with the Chad, Niger, Cameroun and the Republic of Benin under
the Lake Chad Basin Commission to consolidate cross-border and international
efforts at eradicating insurgency.
He said that the G7 Nations had
shown concern about the insurgency in the North East and had promised to
intervene to restore the destroyed infrastructure in schools and hospitals,
amongst other places.
The President said that he had
since directed the front line states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa to articulate realistic
assessments, costs and locations of facilities on local government-by-local
government basis for submission to the President of the G7 for further
verification.
“In addition, the requirements of
the military have been prepared by the Service Chiefs for the consideration of
the G7 Nations.’’
The National Economic Council was
established by the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria (1999), as amended, Third Schedule, Part I, Section 153: Sub section
(18 & 19).
NEC has the mandate to advise the
President on the economic affairs of the federation, and in particular on
measures necessary for the coordination of the economic programmes of the
various tiers of government in the federation.
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