There will be no coordinating minister for the economy under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said.
The vice president declared this at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday while receiving the Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Jonathan Richardson.
Osinbajo emphasised that unlike the immediate past administration, the Buhari Presidency would not name a Coordinating Minister for the Economy.
“We are not going to have a system like where there was a coordinating minister. No, there would not be anything like that”, the vice president stated.
He noted his role as vice president was to ensure that Buhari was fully informed of what everyone involved in economic activities was doing “such that we are all on same page and to make it easier for the president to make decisions”
Osinbajo’s spokesman Laolu Akande, in a statement on Wednesday, recalled that at the National Economic Summit held in Abuja four weeks ago, the vice president had noted that his role was to supervise the economy.
The vice president also told the Australian envoy that Nigeria was willing to deepen her bilateral relations with Australia in the areas of mining, agriculture, shipping, transport and infrastructure development.
According to him, “the Federal Government will be interested in exploring deeper relationship with Australia on economic cooperation as it is a major area in diversifying our economy”.
The vice president commended the Australian government for the various capacity building initiatives as well as its investments in some key sectors of the Nigerian economy.
