The third sitting of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s National Economic Council (NEC) has begun at the Presidential Villa’s Council Chamber in Abuja.
The summit, presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima, is attended by governors and deputy governors from several states.
Governors from Osun, Lagos, Kaduna, Adamawa, Rivers, Benue, Sokoto, Delta, Ebonyi, Taraba, Nasarawa, and the Federal Capital Territory are among those in attendance.
The gathering comes as organized labor prepares to launch a statewide indefinite strike on October 3 in response to the government’s “failure” to address Nigerians’ suffering through structured post-subsidy programs.
At its most recent meeting on August 17, the NEC allocated a meager N5 billion for each of the federation’s 36 states and the FCT to purchase food and fertilizer as part of attempts to ease the suffering caused by the elimination of fuel subsidies throughout the country.
Governor Babagana Zulum noted after the meeting that the fund was part of a plan to provide interim solutions to the high cost of living caused by the elimination of subsidies while the government worked on longer-term programs.
He stated that the funds would be used to purchase 100,000 bags of rice and 40,000 bags of maize, as well as fertilizer and other products.
The governor also stated that, in order to alleviate the impact of the country’s increasing food prices, the federal government had previously distributed five trucks of rice to each state of the federation.