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| President Buhari, (C) VP Osinbajo and 36 State Governors at inauguration of National Economic Council |
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday urged governments at all
levels to be prudent in the management of resources at their disposal to ensure
national growth, job creation and equity in the country.
The president, who was
speaking at the inauguration of the National Economic Council in Abuja, pledged
to ensure that his administration upholds accountability, transparency and
integrity in the distribution of revenues in the Federation Account in line
with the provisions of Sections 80 and 162 of the Constitution.
PREMIUM TIMES report continues:
Cultivating the culture
of prudent management of resources at all levels of government, he said, would
entail looking inwards to secure sustainable ways of increasing internally
generated revenue and harnessing growth potentials of each State to supplement
the allocation from the Federation Account.
He challenged the various
state governments whose governors are members of the council to initiate
projects that would meet the immediate needs of the people in their domains,
taking into account the limited resources at their disposal.
As a matter of urgency,
he said he wanted members of the Economic Council to explore efficient means of
gradually clearing all unpaid salaries of staff, to remove the untold hardship
this has brought to thousands of families in recent times.
He promised that his
administration would ensure that all revenue generating agencies complied with
stipulated Financial Regulations and Administrative Instructions in their
remittances into the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The revenue agencies
include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Nigeria Customs Services,
Federal Inland Revenue Services, Nigeria Ports Authority, Central Bank of
Nigeria, Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and Nigeria
Liquefied Natural Gas.
Restating the primary
objective of his administration – to tackle insecurity, youth unemployment
through the revival of agriculture, solid minerals mining as well as small and
medium size businesses — Mr. Buhari said his administration was fully committed
to sustainable visionary initiatives and programmes that would restructure and
transform the country’s economy.
“I urge you all to ensure
that we surmount these enormous challenges facing us as a country by working to
support economic policies, which the government will soon unveil to grow our
economy and finance our external promises,” he said.
“We are also committed to
ensuring collaboration and facilitation of the International efforts to combat
threats of cross-border terrorism, sea piracy, refugees, Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs), financial crimes, cyber-crimes, climate change, spread of
communicable diseases and other challenges of the 21st century,” he added.
He underlined the need
for close cooperation and collaboration among neighbouring states on projects,
such as interstate and feeder roads, soil erosion, desertification and other
developmental programmes, pointing out that as one country, they had the
responsibility to lead by example.
Despite the challenges of
pervasive corruption, fuel and power shortages, public service reforms, the
president underscored the need to allow every tier of government to exercise
its constitutional responsibilities.
“As far as is possible,
there should be distance between politics and development programmes,” he said.
The NEC, as one of the
Federal Executive bodies, was established by the provisions of the Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999), as amended, Third Schedule, Part I,
Section 153: Sub section (18 & 19).
It
has the mandate to advise the President on the country’s economic affairs, and
in particular on measures necessary for the co-ordination of the economic
planning and programmes of the various governments of the Federation.
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