By Salisu Sani-Idris
National Economic Council (NEC) has constituted an Ad-hoc Committee to engage with the leadership of labour unions to resolve issues surrounding the petrol subsidy removal across the states.
Mr Olusola Abiola, Director Information, Office of the Vice President, in a statement, said the decision was reached at the 135th meeting of NEC, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima in Abuja on Thursday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports 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.
Abiola said that the council also received progress reports on the ongoing nationwide distribution of rice, grains, fertilizer and other items to States and N5 billion financial support, provided by the Federal Government.
He said the council commended 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 the vulnerable groups.
He said that NEC also mourned the death of some military personnel in Niger State and observed a minute silence in honour of the deceased, while commiserating with their families.
“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 attention of 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,” he said.
Abiola said the council resolved to set up a five-man Ad-hoc Committee on flooding, comprising Governors of Jigawa, Kogi, Anambra, Bayelsa, Lagos and Yobe States.
He said that those coopted into the Committee were 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.
The director explained that the terms of reference of the committee was to review the current flooding situation in the country and design a template for the compensation of victims.
He said that the Committee had its inaugural meeting on Nov. 10 , 2022, at the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Secretariat.
Highlight of that Meeting were as follows:
“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. (NAN)
