UPDATES: Corona Virus Impact on Economy, Buhari receives report

This is to ensure that investments and the business of government continue to run without hitches. President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Presidential committee on the impacts of Covid-19 on Nigeria’s economy

The chairperson of the committee; Zainab Ahmed, who is also the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning; made the disclosure to State House correspondents after the presentation of the committee’s interim report to President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday, March 13.

She added that the President directed the committee to consult widely and return to him next week with more details on what to do.

“This committee that has been set up by the President to review the impact of Covid-19; as well as the crash of the crude oil price, had a short meeting with the President in which we filed an interim report.

“The President has directed that we should consult and come back to him with an update next week.

 “What we have been mandated to do is to ensure that the business of government continues to run; as much as possible, normally.

“The government agencies are funded and that there must be continuous investments in critical infrastructure that would ensure continuous growth.”

According to her; the committee is working hard to ensure that government revenue is stabilised as well as making sure state governments do not starve.

“We are looking at ways and means in which the revenue of government will be stabilised; and that we are able to fund the states through the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) process at a level; that is averagely expected and planned for both at the federal and national budgets,” she added.

The minister expressed the hope that if they finished their consultations next week; they would be expecting some approvals from the President.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Godwin Emefiele, who is also a member of the committee, told the correspondents that the country did not consider it necessary to impose any travel ban on visitors coming into Nigeria because of the outbreak of the Covid-19.