President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to ensure that Nigerian civil servants receive their salaries as soon as possible.
During a meeting with members of the Presidential Committee on the review of the Impact of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on the Economy, on Thursday 2nd of April 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the Chairman of the Presidential Committee and Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed that March salaries should be paid and also urged the ministry to ensure that the poor, the vulnerable and critical infrastructures are protected at all cost.
Speaking on the directives issued by the president, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said the President further directed that measures be put in place to protect the poor and ensure prompt payment of civil servants’ salaries during this lockdown
“Well, he has directed that we should make sure that salaries are paid, make critical infrastructures like roads, rails are protected, as much as possible use local inputs so that we retain value within our economy. And also make sure that we have measures that protect the poor and the vulnerable.”
“This meeting was just to brief Mr President as the situation we are in keeps evolving on a daily basis. As the health crisis gradually expands, affecting states and also the lockdown that has been ordered to help curtail the expansion of the health crisis."
“The consequences of the lockdown is the additional slowing down of the economy and the measures that we need to take to mitigate the negative consequences of the slow trade and businesses”.
The President had in March set up a special committee to immediately look into the effects of COVID 19 on the price of oil, with a view to reviewing the crude oil benchmark of the 2020 budget.
Members of the committee include the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele and the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari.
