• Meets CBN gov, finance, budget ministers
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Recuperating President Muhammadu Buhari has given his administration a pass mark on its handling of the economy.
Buhari who was briefed yesterday by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, on the state of the economy, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the N7.441 trillion 2017 budget.
Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, who disclosed this in a statement, said Buhari expressed happiness that things were looking up after two years of governance and urged the ministers to keep at it as the main aim of government was to bring comfort to Nigerians across all walks of life.
The statement said Buhari reminded the ministers and CBN governor that reviving the economy was one of the major planks on which the campaign of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was based.
Udoma, Adeosun and Emefiele briefed the president on updates in the implementation of the 2017 Budget, preparation for the 2018 Budget, revenue strategies, combined cost reduction and debt management and on the improving state of the economy, the statement said.
Also discussed were monetary policy strategies and their economic impact, among others.
President Buhari arrived Nigeria on Saturday after nearly four months in the United Kingdom where he received medical treatment for an undisclosed ailment.Yesterday’s meeting with his economic team in his office at the new Banquet Hall at the Presidential Villa, was his first since his return after three months of medical leave in the UK. Before then, he has been working from home while his office was being renovated following alleged invasion by rodents.