The lingering fuel scarcity in the country and the need for state governments to pay salaries dominated discussions at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting which held on Thursday.
The strategies to boost Nigeria’s reserves in the Excess Crude Account and the perennial power challenges in the country were also discussed.
The meeting which ended at about 4:50PM was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and had most of the governors were in attendance.
The NEC meeting which was summoned by the Presidency held barely 24 hours after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday during which short-term and long-term plans were made to revamp the nation’s refineries before the end of 2017 and also put an end to importation of petrol by 2019.
The FEC also said that petrol supply would be available before the end of May, with Port Harcourt and Kaduna Refineries supporting supplies.
It is expected that the ongoing NEC meeting would be discussing ways to implement the plans by the FEC.
The National Economic Council held its retreat in March to provide a forum for in-depth discussions by NEC members of the policy actions that the states and the Federal Government could consider in order to stimulate local production, cut costs and enhance public revenues among other measures to stimulate the economy.
The NEC meeting is usually attended by the 36 state governors, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and other co-opted members.
The NEC is chaired by the Vice President.