A meeting of the National Economic Council, NEC, has begun at the Conference Centre of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo presiding.
It is the first meeting of the NEC that will have members attend physically since late March 2020 when President Muhammadu Buhari announced the Covid-19 lockdown in Nigeria.
All meetings of the Council since then had been held virtually with Vice President Osinbajo presiding from his office, while the governors participated from their state capitals and other members joining from their offices in Abuja.
It is expected that security will be top on the agenda of the meeting.
The meeting, which began at about 11.30am Nigerian time, is expected to also deliberate further on the recommendations of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum at its meeting on Wednesday night.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Kayode Fayemi, who briefed the media, said the meeting recommended, among other things, to support the use of portions of the Excess Crude Account and the Natural Resource Development Fund for the fight against insecurity.
The Covid-19 pandemic is also expected to be on the agenda of the meeting.
At its virtual meeting in January, the Council was informed that the government planned about N6.5billion for the development of new oxygen plants in 38 locations across the country for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.
Reports on the implementation of this might be presented at the meeting.
Dominica Nwabufo
