Osinbajo opens up on Buhari’s new Economic Advisory Council

 

BY OUR EDITOR

Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, spoke for the first time Thursday on the new Economic Advisory Council (EAC) just appointed by the President, Muhammadu Buhari, while disbanding the Economic Management Team, hitherto chaired by Osinbajo.

Gombe State governor, Inuwa Yahaya, reported that Prof Osinbajo told a meeting of National Economic Council (NEC) that the newly formed Economic Advisory Council (EAC) was established to assist President Muhammadu Buhari.

Yahaya said the vice president spoke on the issue when the governors sought for clarification from him at the NEC meeting, chaired by the vice president, according to a DAILY TRUST report.

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“Governors requested for clarification from the council chairman (the Vice President), on the relationship between NEC and the newly-formed Economic Advisory Council.

“And the Vice President explained that those councils are advisory for the benefit of Mr President while NEC is established by the constitution; they are to complement one another.

“He added that NEC could be briefed regularly on the activities of the Economic Advisory Council with the permission of Mr. President,” he also said.

The governor said Nigeria had moved up 24 places in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking, while 32 states led by Kaduna, Enugu, Abia, Lagos and Anambra had also improved in their ease of doing business environment as a result of the efforts of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) in the last three years.

He added that an independent survey adjudged Nigeria as impactful in terms of procedures and time of doing businesses.

“Secretary to the PEBEC, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, gave an update on the enabling business to environment and informed the council that the current reforms in African countries as contained in the African Development Bank Economic Outlook report released in January 2019 and in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business 2019, Nigeria is ranked 146 with micro, small and medium enterprises making up to 90 percent of businesses in Nigeria.

“And that the economic recovery and growth plan 2017-2020, which has three broad objectives which include restoring growth, investing in people and building a competitive economy, has positioned Nigeria as a force in building a competitive economy.

“The committee was mandated to take Nigeria to top 100 in the 2020 World Bank Ease of Doing Business index. It is also mandated to achieve the required political buy-ins across all arms and levels of government,” said Governor Yahaya who also briefed newsmen on the outcome of the NEC meeting.