Economic Reformations: Former presidents, governors pass vote of confidence in Tinubu
Former Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan, who attended the Council of State meeting on Tuesday physically, and all other former presidents who attended virtually have passed a vote of confidence in President Bola Tinubu.
Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development, revealed this when he briefed State House Correspondents on Tuesday.
Alake, who spoke at the end of the Council of State meeting in Abuja, said: “A lot of issues were exhaustively discussed at the meeting, and the governors were all in attendance as well as some ministers who were invited to make presentations.
“We made presentations on our road map, on what we’ve been able to achieve, the prospects and the challenges in our various ministries.
“At the end, we all passed a vote of confidence in President Tinubu.”
Alake said the ministers of Solid Minerals, Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Trade and Investment, Budget and National Budget, Agriculture, Works and Attorney General were invited to make presentations to the Council.
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He said the individual presentations by the ministers were well received based on the feedback received.
He said the Council also discussed the recent nationwide protest, which he insisted was an attempt to effect a change of regime by force.
He said: “And so the Council thanked Nigerians at large for resisting an unconstitutional move to change the government.
“If anybody is not satisfied with any government, there’s an election coming.
“So, wait for the election.”
Alake said Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, also briefed the Council on the security situation in the country.
He said: “We were assured that nobody will be allowed to truncate our hard-earned democracy.
“Any change of government has to be through the ballot, and not through the barrel of the gun, or through insurrection, or through any other unconstitutional means.
“We were reassured of the readiness of all security agencies in the country to secure our territorial integrity and to protect Nigeria’s democracy.”
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum said one of the outcomes of the Council of State meeting was the unanimous passage of confidence in President Tinubu.
AbdulRazaq said: “Members, especially those of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, were satisfied with the presentation by the members of the Federal Executive Council.
“Members of the NGF also, like the members of the Council of State, passed a vote of confidence in Mr. President.”
Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, said he gave an update on the progress of macroeconomic policies being implemented by the Tinubu administration.
Edun said: “These policies are anchored on eight priority areas, and the results to date have been very encouraging.
“We looked at the data, we reported on the evidence of this half year, which we compared to the first quarter and the second quarter of 2023.
“And in broad terms, the economy is growing.
“The balance of payments in particular, the trade balance and the currency balance are in surplus.
“The exchange rate is stabilising, and inflation is not uncomfortably high.
“It is slowing and it is set to fall.”
According to Edun, there has been support for the economy from foreign and domestic investors who are participating in important private public partnerships, particularly in the infrastructure sector.
He added: “So, we reported that we will ensure that the interventions and the measures to ameliorate the high cost of living for individuals, for the agricultural sector, for industry, for small-scale businesses will continue to be implemented.
“On that basis, we reported an optimistic outlook for the Nigerian economy and the Nigerian society in general.”