Vice-President Kashim Shettima says President Bola Tinubu remains committed to diversifying the Nigerian economy.
Mr Shettima said this on Thursday when he received a delegation from the Nigerian Economic Society (NES) led by its president, Adeola Adenikinju, on a courtesy visit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The vice-president described Mr Tinubu as a leader with the political will to take bold decisions, citing the president’s recent trip to Brazil, which resulted in the signing of five Memoranda of Understanding covering aviation, foreign affairs, science and technology, and agriculture.
“These were deliberate and intentional steps by the president in diversifying the nation’s economy. In President Bola Tinubu, you have an ally, a friend who grew up in the same ecosystem as you.
“He speaks your language of business and commerce, understands the economic terrain, and most importantly, has the political courage,” he said.
Mr Shettima noted that while the world was now in a knowledge-driven post-industrial age, the current government and relevant stakeholders were “in a unique position to turn Nigeria’s potential into demographic dividends”.
He stressed that Nigeria was also in a unique position to fill global talent gaps for many reasons, including its youthful population.
Mr Shettima added that Nigerians have the intellectual know-how, capacity, and versatility to economically reposition the country by leveraging Mr Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
He described the NES as one of the oldest organisations in Nigeria’s economic ecosystem.
The vice-president solicited the society’s support for the actualisation of the Renewed Hope Agenda.
He urged the body to come up with more robust solutions to Nigeria’s challenges, assuring them that the present administration was open to their input and “perspectives on diversifying the nation’s economy”.
Earlier, Mr Adenikinju applauded the economic reforms of the present administration, describing it as bold, profound and yielding results.
He pledged the NES’s firm support to the Tinubu administration’s efforts and policies and offered to serve, if integrated, in the federal government’s economic management team.
He also expressed readiness of the NES to participate in relevant committees and bodies saddled with development and economic planning responsibilities.
Mr Adenikinju noted that for the administration to consolidate gains recorded in the economy, the government must be intentional about the reactivation of the Economic Intelligence Unit in the presidency.
This, according to him, was with a view to providing evidence-based advice for the president.
He announced plans to confer the society’s highest award, ‘Fellow of the Nigerian Economic Society (FNES)’ on Mr Shettima at its forthcoming national conference on September 9 in Abuja.
The NES delegation also includes the former president of the society, Sarah Anyanwu; council members, Rislanudeen Muhammad and Idris Idris, chairman, Abuja chapter.
Others were Peter Agunloye, special assistant to the NES president, Justin Amase, and chairperson of the Local Organising Committee of the conference, Nonye Ndidi, among others.
(NAN)