The National Economic Council (NEC) has rolled out a sweeping, joint 90-day action plan aimed at easing economic pressure on Nigerian households and drastically lowering transport and food costs.
Chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the council—comprising the 36 state governors and key members of the President’s economic team—agreed on a multi-tiered intervention to ensure that broader macroeconomic gains filter down into immediate, daily relief for citizens.
The emergency plan builds upon recent federal interventions, including the 30-day fuel price discount introduced on October 1.
Objective
Immediate market interventions to bring down prices of basic food items.
Joint federal-state financing to roll out Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and electric buses.
Elimination of multiple taxation to protect small businesses and consumers from hidden costs.
Structured welfare distribution and social safety nets for vulnerable citizens.
Fast-tracking high-impact infrastructure projects to boost local economies.
To enforce accountability in the deployment of funds saved from petrol subsidy removal, NEC also approved a centralized National Project Dashboard to track execution in real time across all states.
Direct Order to Transport Unions: Pass CNG Savings to Passengers
Vice President Shettima directed immediate engagement with commercial transport unions, declaring that the success of the National CNG Initiative will be judged strictly by lower bus fares—not by how many vehicles are deployed.
”The cost of reaching a livelihood should never consume the livelihood itself,” Shettima told state governors. “The passenger’s experience must guide our ambition… We should assess success through affordability and access, rather than fleet size alone.”
NEC subsequently set up a joint federal-state committee to oversee financing for green transport and establish enforcement mechanisms to ensure commercial operators reduce fares.
Single-Digit Inflation Goal by 2027
Highlighting the medium-term economic trajectory, Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, stated that current reform measures are on track to bring both headline inflation and interest rates down to single digits by 2027.
Additionally, the council confirmed unanimous backing from all 36 state governors for the Federal Government’s Livestock Development Initiative, aimed at curbing agricultural losses, tackling farmer-herder conflicts, and boosting domestic food supply.
Concluding the session, Vice President Shettima urged governors to take decisive ownership of local policy implementation:
”The first dividend of prosperity should be the confidence to plan a life. Our task is to make such confidence less dependent on fortune,” the Vice President stated. “President Tinubu has made economic reform the instrument of a larger national ambition. Our contribution must give that ambition social depth and productive strength.”
