Council of State Passes Unanimous Vote of Confidence on President Tinubu
The Nigerian Council of State has passed a unanimous vote of confidence on President Bola Tinubu, and urged him to prove to Nigerians that his policies will eventually revamp the economy.
Briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting, the. Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr. Dele Alake, said the nation’s Governors also passed a similar vote of confidence on the President during an executive meeting that held after that of the Council of State’s.
Mr. Alake said the attendance of the meeting by past leaders of the country, except Chief Obasanjo, was a testimony to their support of President Tinubu’s stewardship.
He explained that the Ministers of Solid Minerals Development, Finance, Budget and National Planning, Works, Trade and Investment, and Agriculture made presentations on their roadmap, achievements, prospects, and challenges, which were well received, judging from the feedback they got from the attendants.
Mr. Alake said the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s presentation centred on the recent nationwide protest, and assured the Council of the tightness of security around the country.
He said the NSA also allayed the general fears of a constitutional change of government, reassuring that nobody will be allowed to truncate the country’s democracy.
“Any change of government has to be through the ballots and not through the barrel of the gun or through insurrection or through any other unconstitutional means, only through the ballot box can any government be changed”, he emphasised.
The Chairman of the governor’s forum, the governor of Kwara, state, who is here with us, will give you a brief on other outcomes of the Council of State meeting.
The Chairman, Nigerian Governor’s Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdurRazak said the high note of the two meetings were the unanimous vote of confidence passed on the President, saying that they satisfied with the presentation by the seven members of the Federal Executive Council,
Regarding his presentation, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun, had said he updated the Council of State on the administration’s macroeconomic policies, whose results are encouraging.
He explained that based on evidence and the data of half year of 2024, for which data was available, compared to the first quarter and the second quarter of 2023, the economy was growing.
The balance of payments, in particular, according to him, the trade balance and a current account balance are in surplus.
“The exchange rate is stabilising, and inflation, though high, uncomfortably high for the liking of Mr president and his team, it is slowing and it is set to fall.
“But in particular, there has been support for the economy from investors, foreign investors, by way of portfolio investors, domestic investors, who are participating in important private public partnerships, particularly infrastructure sector and foreign direct investment, is beginning to recover, I would say so.
“On that basis, we reported on, in particular, the opportunities for the economy once stabilised for investment and growth, and identified for the meeting, was the fact that we have exports, goods exports, non-oil exports, at $55 billion last year with tremendous room to grow.
“And in particular, we identified that the service sector that is software services, computer services, accounting services, personnel services, which can be provided by young Nigerians staying in Nigeria and providing services through the internet and through telephones, outsourcing in a world was a big area we emphasised ” the Mr. Edun said.
Abdullah Bello
