From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari met with Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.
Tambuwal is the immediate past speaker.
They drove in Dogara’s car into the forecourt of the villa at about 3.00 pm and left at 3.47pm.
They both refused to take questions on the purpose of the visit, on the crisis in the All Progressive Congress (APC) and on the planned sale of national assets.
Tambuwal specially said his position on assets sale was already in the media and he said he was unaware of any crisis in the APC.
Dogara maintained sealed lips and walked straight into his car.
The Federal Government is planning to sell yet-to-be identified assets to fund the 2016 budget deficit, in a bid to get the nation out of recession and revamp economic growth.
Already, government has listed conditions that must be met before the sale of certain national assets in order to shore up the nation’s dwindling resources.
Top among them is that government will insert repurchasing clause in the sales agreement.
It has also ruled out outright sell off of its assets in Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG).
The Federal Government is hoping to raise between $10 billion to $15 billion from asset sale as the nation’s monthly foreign earnings has dropped to as low as about $300 million.
Meanwhile, Senate has rejected plans to sell national assets. This was even as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has indicated plans to embark on mass protest against the proposed sale.
President Buhari had, at a recent one-day retreat for Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDGs) with financial experts to present and discuss priority areas of the 2017 budget, disclosed that some MDAs might get less capital allocation than they received in 2016 in the 2017 budget.
He said the new development is a bid to focus on key priorities as the country seeks ways to get out of recession.