The Council of State has expressed its confidence in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership.
The decision was made during the Council’s inaugural meeting, which President Tinubu convened at the State House in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Council, which includes former Presidents and Heads of State such as General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), Muhammadu Buhari, Goodluck Jonathan, and General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), also praised Nigerians for resisting attempts at an unconstitutional change of government during the #EndBadGovernance protests.
Former Presidents Buhari and Jonathan attended the meeting in person, while Generals Gowon and Abubakar participated virtually.
Governors Alex Otti (Abia); Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa) and Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom) attended the meeting virtually too.
However, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida were absent.
Briefing correspondents after the meeting, Kwara Governor and chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, said the council unanimously passed a vote of confidence on Tinubu for the way he has governed the country.
He said the council was satisfied with the presentations made by Ministers on the progress of the economy.
According to him: “The high note of the meeting was a unanimous passage of a vote of confidence on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
“Members, especially those of the Nigerian governor’s forum, were satisfied with the presentation by the members of the Federal Executive Council, and after that meeting, there was an executive session between members of the Nigerian governor’s forum and Mr President, and frank and fruitful discussions were held between both parties, and I’m glad to say we’re on the right track. And to say in the same vein, members of the NGF also, like the members of the Council of State, passed a vote of confidence on Mr President.
“We also wish him well and pray for God, guidance for him. Thank you very much.”
Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dele Alake, said the council also praised Tinubu for resisting a forceful takeover of government.
Alake said the recent #EndBadGovernance action was not a protest but a movement.
He said the council affirmed that nobody will be allowed to change the government except through the ballot box.
He revealed that seven ministers made presentations to the council on the progress being made on economic diversification and economy.
According to Alake, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, briefed the council on the events before, during and after the recent protests.
He described it as a “movement to effect a change of regime by force” that was resisted by Nigerians.
He said the council thanked Nigerians for resisting any unconstitutional attempt to change the government.
He emphasised that if anyone is dissatisfied with the current administration, they should wait for elections.
Alake said the NSA reassured that security agencies are ready to secure Nigeria’s territorial integrity and protect the country’s democracy.
He stressed that any change of government must be through the ballot box and not any unconstitutional means.
“Of course, at the end of it, matters of state were discussed in a robust manner and frank manner. And the National Security Adviser also was on hand to present the security situation of the country.
“The National Security Adviser also was on hand to present the security situation of the country. And he did inform the Council of State about the pre, during and post event of the last protests, which I do not call a protest. I call a movement to effect a change of regime by force, which was also resisted.
“And so, the council thanked Nigerians at large for resisting any unconstitutional move to change government, if anybody is not satisfied with the government, any current administration, there is always an election coming, so you wait for election and cast your vote.
“So the NSA briefed the Council on the security situations, and allayed fears all round.
“So after the NSA’s briefing, generally, he allayed everybody’s fears and spoke on the tightness of the security around the country, and also reassured all and sundry that nobody will be allowed to truncate our hard earned democracy.
“Any change of government has to be through the ballots and not through the barrel of the gun or through insurrection or through any other unconstitutional means, only through the ballot box can any government be changed.
And he reassured on the security readiness of all security agencies in the country, to secure our territorial integrity and to protect Nigeria’s Democracy,” Alake said.
Alake said seven ministers made presentations to the council on the progress, prospects, and challenges in their respective ministries, focusing on the Renewed Hope Agenda’s emphasis on economic diversification.
He said, “A lot of issues were exhaustively discussed at the meeting. And of course, you know that, apart from the former heads of state, the Constitutional composition of the Council of State includes all governors, security adviser, Attorney General and the rest. So the governors were all in attendance as well.
“And some of us Ministers were invited to make presentations on our road map on what we’ve been able to achieve, the prospects and the challenges in our various ministries. And so myself of the Solid Minerals, coordinating Minister of the Economy and the finance minister, Mr Wale Edun were also there to make presentation. The Minister of Budget was also there he made his presentation. The Minister of works also made presentation, the Minister of Trade and Investment. Dr Doris was also there. The Minister of Agriculture also was invited.
“So these seven of us Ministers made individual presentations to the council of state meeting, and our presentations were well received from the feedback that we got immediately after individual presentations.”
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said he reported encouraging progress in the economy under President Tinubu’s leadership, citing data from the first half of 2023.
He said the key points he made included that the economy is growing, with a surplus in the balance of payments, trade balance, and current account balance.
He said the exchange rate is stabilizing, and inflation, though still high, is slowing and set to fall.
He said there has been support for the economy from investors, both foreign and domestic, particularly in the infrastructure sector.
He said there are opportunities for growth include exports, which reached $55 billion last year, and the service sector, such as software and accounting services.
Edun said: “Indeed, we did had the opportunity and the privilege to present to the Council of State, and in particular the former presidents, who turned out in a large number to participate, and we had the opportunity to, in my case, update them on the economy, update them on how far progress had been made in terms of the macroeconomic policies being followed under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and these policies are anchored in his eight priority areas and the results to date have been very encouraging.
“We looked at the data, or we reported on the evidence and the data of this half year for which data was available, 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 a current account balance are in surplus. The exchange rate is stabilizing, and inflation, though high, uncomfortably high for the liking of Mr president and his team, it is slowing and it is set to fall.
“But in particular, there has been support for the economy from investors, foreign investors, by way of portfolio investors, domestic investors, who are participating in important private public partnerships, particularly infrastructure sector and foreign direct investment, is beginning to recover, I would say so.
“On that basis, we reported on, in particular, the opportunities for the economy once stabilized for investment and growth, and identified for the meeting was the fact that we have exports, goods exports, Non oil exports, at $55 billion last year with tremendous room to grow.
“And in particular, we identified that the service sector that is software services, Computer Services, accounting services, personnel services, which can be provided by young Nigerians staying in Nigeria and providing services through the internet and through telephones, outsourcing in a world was a big area we emphasized.
“So in a nutshell, we reported that there was good progress being made that the effort was going to continue to ensure that the interventions and measures to ameliorate the high cost of living for individuals, for the agricultural sector, for industry, for Small Scale businesses, were going to continue to be implemented with all efforts needed for success.
“And on that basis, we reported an optimistic outlook for the Nigerian economy and the Nigerian society in general, as a result of prospects for economic growth and economic progress.”