While briefing State House correspondence immediately after the Council meeting, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku said that prior to the commencement of the meeting, the Principal Secretary to the President, informed Council that the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr. Earnest Boi Koroma would confer on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, the Grand Patron of the West African Insurance Institute (WAII) in the Council Chambers. He thereafter invited the President of Sierra Leone to present the award of the Grand Patron of the WAII to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR.
He said the President of Sierra Leone congratulated the Nigerian President on the award of the Grand Patron of the WAII, stating that he deserved the honour due to the leadership role he and indeed Nigeria had provided in ECOWAS and the sub-Sahara region. He thanked the founders of the WAII, particularly Nigeria, for their initiative to establish, support and sustain the institute, which had contributed immensely to the development of the insurance industry in West Africa.
Maku said the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, expressed appreciation to the Governing Board of the WAII for the award, stating that insurance was an essential economic ingredient for the development of a nation. He urged the insurance Associations in Nigeria to collaborate with the WAII for further manpower development.
Maku said the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Mr. Steve Oransanye, briefed the Council on the FATF and the need for Nigeria to exit the grey list. He stated that FATF, which was an Inter-Governmental body to combat money laundering and terrorist financing would be visiting Nigeria to investigate the effectiveness of terrorist financing laws and regulations. He recalled that Nigeria was on the FATF list of countries that had not made significant progress in their anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CTF) regime due to weak supervision of banking, capital market and insurance sectors of the economy. He added that the outcome of the exercise would decide the continued inclusion of the country in the list.
Maku said the President commended the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on FATF for the briefing, stressing that it was necessary for Nigeria to exit the grey list in order to reduce the cost of doing business in the country.
Maku said after the briefing, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy/ Minister of Finance brought a memorandum to council to seek approval to obtain an International Development Association (IDA) credit facility in the sum of SDR77.5 million (equivalent to USD120 million), in support of the second National Urban Water Sector Reform Project in Cross River and Lagos States.
The objective of the project which is ongoing was to improve reliability of water supply in Lagos State, increase access to pipe water networks in 4 cities in Cross River State and improve commercial viability of Urban Water in both states.
After deliberations, Council approved that the Coordinating Minister for the Economy/Minister of Finance execute the Financing Agreement on behalf of the Federal Government
The Council directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to issue legal opinion required to render the project effective.
The Council gave consent for the IDA to, in accordance with its disclosure policy, publish the project Documents.
Maku further said that the Coordinating Minister for the Economy/Minister of Finance brought another memo to seek council's approval to obtain an International Development Association (IDA) credit facility in the amount of SDR66.800 (equivalent to USD100 million) for the proposed Federal Government First Agriculture Sector Development Policy Operation (AgDPO).
The main objective of the AgDPO is to strengthen the policy environment and institutional capacity to enhance Agricultural productivity and market access among farmers as well as improve Agriculture sector management.
According to Maku, the AGDPO is consistent with the current Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA). The AgDPO would support Agriculture in Nigeria in the following areas: farmers' access to improved technologies, including through development of input markets; market development; fiscal policies; improving the business investment climate and improving agriculture sector management.
He said that in view of the benefits derivable from the project, council approved that the CME/MF executes the Financing Agreement on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The council directed the Attorney-General of the Federation/Minister of Justice to issue Legal Opinion to make the credit effective.
He said the Coordinating Minister for the Economy/Minister of Finance brought yet another memo to seek council's approval to obtain an International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Credit facility of SDR47.850 million (USD74 million equivalent) in support of the Nigeria Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP). The facility comes with a grant of SDR300,000 (USD510,345).
The Project Development Objective (PDO) of VCDP is to enhance on a sustainable basis, the incomes and food security of economically active poor rural households engaged in production, processing and marketing of rice and cassava in the programme areas of Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Niger, Ogun and Taraba States. The goal of the programme is to reduce rural poverty and achieve accelerated economic growth on a sustainable basis.
After deliberations, Council approved that the CME/MF executes the financing agreement for an International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) credit of SDR47.850 million (USD74 million equivalent) in support of the Nigeria Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP).
The Council further directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to issue the legal opinion required to render the loan effective.
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Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria