On Sunday, President Bola Tinubu set up an economic advisory committee comprising the federal government, sub-nationals and the private sector to deliberate on the prevailing cost of living crisis in the country and strategies to tackle it.
- President Bola Tinubu held a meeting with prominent private sector leaders and some state governors on Sunday.
- Present at the meeting were Dangote, Rabiu and Elumelu.
- The meeting comes amidst challenges such as the declining naira exchange rate, increasing inflation, insecurity and other economic difficulties in the country.
Present at the meeting were Aliko Dangote, chairperson of Dangote Group of Companies; Abdulsamad Rabiu, the chairman of BUA Group; Tony Elumelu, chairperson of United Bank of Africa (UBA).
This meeting comes amidst challenges such as the declining naira exchange rate, increasing inflation, and other economic difficulties that have exacerbated the cost of living crisis for Nigerians.
What the President said:
“Let’s look at what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong to bring life back to the economy. As I have said many times, the people of this country are only the people we have to please."
“We are not saying that we have all the answers. But we will not be blamed for not trying. We assure Nigerians that we will do our best to get our marshall plan in place and fashion out the best economic future for this country.” he said.
What Dangote, Rabiu and Elumelu said:
Following the meeting, Dangote stated that discussions extensively covered issues related to the economy, food security, and the nation's security.
"What we discussed is generally about the economy, food security and security of the nation... And there is the economic presidential advisory committee which has been set up and I think this will look at all the issues and address them, coming from job creation, food security, coming from also reflected the economy," he said.
On his part, the Chairman of the BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, revealed that the committee held frank and exhaustive discussions with the President on the foreign exchange rate.
"We discussed how to bring the foreign exchange rate down because we all know that what is happening as regards the foreign exchange is artificial. It is manipulative and thank God the CBN is doing quite a lot.”
“Now, the exchange rate has come down from N1800 to maybe 1600 and N1500 now, and as you all know, everything in Nigeria is indexed to the foreign exchange, especially when it comes to stuff that we import into the country,” he said.
Elumelu expressed his belief that implementing the decisions made at the meeting would propel the Nigerian economy, alleviate poverty, create employment, and put food on the table for many.
