BY Mayowa Tijani
President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned experts and analysts to an “economic war room” to save the economy from prevailing challenges.
Major economists were billed to converge on Intercontinental Hotel, Lagos, on Thursday morning, to have a policy dialogue on the current foreign exchange regime.
The dialogue, which was to be hosted by British High Commission and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), was cancelled at the last minute.
According to one of the organisers, the panelists for the dialogue, were summoned by the president to an “economic war room for saving the economy”.
The dialogue was to be attended by stakeholders from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), ministry of trade, ministry of finance, Bank of Industry (BoI), SMEDAN and Nigeria Customs Service, private sector groups like business owners and consumer protection groups.
Earlier, Muhammad Sanusi II, emir of Kano, asked Buhari to seek the advice of experts in tackling the current economic crisis.
Matthew Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto diocese, also called on the president to refrain from giving excuses.
He advised him to engage constructively with Nigerians on the state of the economy and seek feasible plans out of current economic challenges.
“We didn’t vote a government to complain about yesterday. If we wanted yesterday, the new government would not be there. It is really about taking responsibility. No matter how much you praise or abuse Jonathan, he is not the president of Nigeria,” Kukah had said.
On August 31, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) confirmed the depth of Nigeria’s economic recession, with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, asking Nigerians to keep calm “as the government was working of saving the economy”.
The reports by NBS showed millions of Nigerians unemployed and over 20 million unwilling to work.
The presidency says it is awaiting the return of the national assembly to execute its borrowing plans.
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