President Bola Tinubu made an unexpected appearance on Thursday at the 142nd meeting of the National Economic Council held in the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The NEC, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, was anticipated to discuss the new national minimum wage among other key economic issues.
Vanguard reported that President Tinubu’s attendance was part of his strategy to engage with critical stakeholders, including state governors who are members of the NEC. He had previously stated that he would present a new national minimum wage to the National Assembly for legislative approval only after extensive consultations with these stakeholders. Despite these expectations, the meeting concluded without any mention of the minimum wage deliberations.
During the post-meeting briefing, the Minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari, along with the governors of Imo, Kano, and Kogi, announced significant resolutions. One major initiative is a $1 billion agriculture mechanization program approved by the federal government. This program aims to establish 1,000 agro-service providers across Nigeria, equipped with tractors and other agricultural machinery.
Kyari detailed, “We’ll have a minimum of 2000 tractors a year for the next five years and all other aggregation of agricultural commodities is going to be utilized at least nothing less than 600,000 youths to man these 1000 service centres.”
He also mentioned that this plan was endorsed by the Federal Executive Council the previous Monday.
The minister highlighted partnerships with John Deere and Tata to supply 2000 tractors by the end of the year. He also spoke about the Greener Imperative Project, a 950 million euro initiative set to be unveiled soon. Furthermore, a deal with Belarus Tractors is in the pipeline to supply 2000 tractors annually for the next five years, along with 9000 implements and spare parts.
Kyari noted Saudi Arabia’s interest in purchasing 200,000 metric tons of red meat and 1 million tons of soybeans from Nigeria annually.
He said, “We have already last week had a meeting with our entrepreneurs and we have come out with a roadmap where we can supply and satisfy that demand. We are looking at partnership with foreign governments, not necessarily trying to ask them to come and invest, but asking them what can we produce so that we can sell to you so that we can earn foreign exchange.”
Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State reported that the NEC directed the sub-committee on crude oil theft to provide comprehensive recommendations to combat the issue in the next meeting. Although the sub-committee was expected to present its report on Thursday, it was deemed inconclusive.
Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano announced the formation of the board of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, which had been operating without a supervising board for some time. The new board includes governors from Borno, Katsina, Imo, Ekiti, Kwara, and Akwa Ibom states, representing different geopolitical zones.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, discussed the activation of the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima.