FG makes U-turn on sale of national assets

News Express |28th Sep 2016 | 2,738

Barely 48 hours after the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly unanimously rejected the proposed sale of national assets, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) rose from its meeting on Wednesday and rescinded its decision to dispose of the assets.

Government had in view of the current economic recession indicated plans to sell off some of the nation’s critical assets to bail out the country, especially on the need to meet the budget deficit for 2016.

The president’s economic management team (EMT) in conjunction with the ministry of budget and national planning were working on plan to generate immediate larger injection of fund into the economy through asset sales, advance payment of license renewals, infrastructure concessioning and use of recovered funds to reduce funding gaps in the budget implementation to which the national economic council (NEC) had earlier endorsed.

Alhaji Lai Muhammed, minister of information and culture, and Suleiman Adamu, his water resources counterpart, briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Muhammed said news about the sale of assets were in the realm of speculations.

•Sourced from Independent. Photo shows the FEC in session.