Tambuwal: NESG Helped Nigeria from Economic Drift

Chuks Okocha  in Abuja

The National Economic Summit Group (NESG) has assisted the Nigerian economy in stemming its further drift into economic doldrums, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Governor of Sokoto State, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has said.

He spoke at the NGF’s secretariat in Abuja, where a delegation of the NESG led by its Director General, Laoye Jaiyeola paid him a courtesy visit yesterday.

Addressing the delegation on the planned 2022 edition of the summit, which would be its 28th edition, Tambuwal praised the previous editions and encouraged the NESG to continue to hold such conversations to excite awareness, productivity and accountability among Nigerians.

He said as the country approaches a transition such conversations was necessary to set an agenda that would influence decisions on the future of the country.

The NGF Chairman reiterated the importance of the collaboration between the NGF and the NESG saying they both play very strong roles that add value in helping heal the economy.

Tambuwal pledged his total support to the Group and promised to deploy his position as Chairman of the NGF to galvanise the rest of the governors into supporting the Summit.

The NESG invited Tambuwal to provide his perspective on the resource constraints in the delivery of primary healthcare across states and challenges faced with the acquisition and management of funds for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) at the subnational level.

The summit comes up on 14th to 15th of November 2022, in Abuja.

Four other governors were invited to sit as panelists at various stages of the summit. They include Kaduna State’s Nasir El Rufai, Gombe’s Inuwa Yahaya, Edo’s Godwin Obaseki and Governor Chukuma Soludo of Anambra State.

To the NESG, domestic resource mobilisation remains one of the key drivers of fiscal viability and stability. Owing to this, it explained that it was inviting Soludo as a Professor of Economics and with his experience as a former Central Bank Governor, to share his perspectives on strategies for mobilising capital from within and outside Nigeria.

The Edo State governor would share his perspectives on the importance of human capital development and its multiplier effect on the economy and Gombe state governor would speak about sharing innovative approaches to improving business environments, particularly for MSMEs. He would also speak to how this achievement could be leveraged to drive capital formation/importation from within and outside.

El-Rufai would speak on how the federal government could continue to play the important role of protecting the basic rights of all citizens in the country especially those beyond the capacity of states and how state governments could best take on the problems that are truly local while sitting on the table of national discourse.

The NESG briefed the NGF Chairman through Dr Tayo Aduloju, its Chief Operating Officer, who disclosed that the Group was looking forward to having a national conversation