The rapid stabilisation and advancement plan, which aims to inject N2tn into the economy over the course of the next six months, has been reviewed by the Federal Government, and the results have been presented.
On Thursday, President Bola Tinubu declared that his administration is committed to producing two million barrels of crude oil per day of electricity for Nigerians within the next few months.
He called Nigeria’s current output of crude oil and electricity “shameful.”
At the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja on Thursday, Tinubu made this statement during the inauguration of the 31-member Presidential Economic Coordination Council.
Three months have passed since the committee was formed by the President on March 27, 2024, when Thursday’s inauguration takes place.
He, Vice President Kashima Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State, the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, and Governor Yemi Cardoso, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, make up the committee.
The 13 other members of the PECC are recruited from the organised private sector and include, among others, Abdulsamad Rabiu, the founder of BUA, Tony Elumelu, Chairman of UBA, and Chairman of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote. These members will hold one-year terms on the Council.
Tinubu told the private sector players, “As a nation, it is so shameful that we have about 4.5 gigawatts. We must increase our oil production too to 2 million barrels per day within the next few months. Remove all barriers hindering investments into the sector to enhance competitiveness. We’ve had a challenge thrown at us and all of us will have to be careful.
Nigeria, the continent’s biggest oil producer, has recently had trouble meeting its OPEC production targets.
The administration has attributed the ongoing deficits to issues including oil theft, pipeline damage, and operational inefficiency.
For example, in May 2024, the average output of crude oil was just 1.25 million barrels per day, far less than the government’s aim of 1.7 million bpd for budgetary considerations and substantially below its OPEC+ allotment.
Similarly, Nigeria’s 4.5 gigawatts of power generation capacity—critically low for a country with over 200 million people—remains insufficient to meet the country’s industrial needs. This has hindered economic activity and caused frequent power outages.
However, Tinubu asserts that in order to get beyond these obstacles, his government is “determined” to work with the private sector.
“In the face of it, we have the change of energy security; we need to work together to include power, oil and gas to increase our own grid’s electricity. We are determined to do that with your cooperation, collaboration and recommendation,” he said.
