SENATE OPPOSE SELLS OF NATIONAL ASSETS AGAINST NEC DECISION

THE plenary of the Nigerian Senate which held yesterday, void the recommendation of the National Economic Council, NEC, directing the Federal Government to liquidate the country’s national assets. The Senate’s position came on a day the Federal Government said no final decision had been reached on the matter.

It will be recorded that NEC had earlier recommended sale of the assets to raise capital to shore up foreign reserves and, by extension, bail out the country from the current economic recession. The Senate’s decision is in line with recommendations of its ad-hoc committee set up to review its two-day debate, last week. The committee in its report submitted at plenary, strongly rejected government’s planned action, a decision which ran contrary to the position of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who had earlier backed government’s decision. 

The Senate, in line with recommendation to that effect, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, prepares an Economic Stimulus Bill containing all the fiscal stimulus packages, investments and incentives designed to pull the country out of recession to the National Assembly for accelerated consideration and passage. The committee in its recommendation of the sale of national assets which was, however, rejected, said: “Being a sensitive issue, it should be approached from a commitment to protecting the common patrimony of Nigerians by averting the assets from falling into the hands of swindlers, assets strippers and cannibalizers, in which he also guard against the fuelling of further inequities in the society and polity