The Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Wednesday in Abuja, approved the setting up of a National Forest Trust Fund meant to ensure sustainable forest development and boost revenue generation in the country.
The Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Usman, made this known while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting of the council, presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.
According to the minister, the fund will be financed by major wood stakeholders in the country.
Usman, who addressed the reporters alongside the Minister of Interior, Retired Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, announced the lifting of embargo on the issuance of certificate to all categories of wood exporters in the country.
In his contribution, Udoma revealed that the first quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures released by the National Bureau for Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday was encouraging and indicated that government interventions were working.
He also disclosed that the 2017 budget, which was officially transmitted to the Presidency on Friday “is still being reviewed and analysed by different ministers, thereafter recommendations will be made to the President before it is signed.”
Udoma said the Council reviewed and deliberated on the first quarter report, which was released on Tuesday and regarded it the best report so far in four quarters.
He added that “we found the first quarter GDP performance encouraging, the best we have had in four quarters and it is a sign that we are moving out of recession.
“We realised that we still have to work very hard and we will continue with the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.
“We believe that the interventions we are making and the steps we are taking are in the right direction.
“The results that were released were for one-quarter. There are still three-quarters and we have enough time to do better; we will work hard to continue to stimulate the economy to meet our target.”
He added that government was particularly encouraged by the manufacturing sector that grew at 1.36 per cent.
The NBS report showed that in the first quarter of 2017, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by –0.52 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms, representing the second consecutive quarter of a soft contraction.
Agriculture grew at a slower rate of about 3.4 per cent, while manufacturing sector grew by 1.36 per cent in Q1 2017 after falling to an all-time low of -7.0per cent in Q1 2016.
The solid mineral sector grew in double digit growth for metal ores and quarrying at 40.79 per cent and 52.54 per cent, while the oil sector remained negative at -11.64 per cent although there was an over six percentage point improvement in its fortunes from the previous quarter.
The non-oil sector, which accounted for about 90 per cent of GDP returned to positive growth, although at a marginal level of 0.72 per cent in Q1 2017.
Also, headline inflation fell for the third month in a row to 17.24 per cent, with core inflation also declining quite rapidly.
The Minister of Interior told the correspondents that the Federal Government would partner with state governments in decongesting prisons across the country.
He said the Council had directed that a proposal for decongestion and expansion of prisons, as well as establishment of six ‘half-way houses’ across the country be presented to the National Economic Council (NEC) for more input.
He noted that the country’s deplorable prison conditions were worsened by the fact that “70 per cent of inmates are awaiting trial, for even as long as 11 years, while five per cent of the remaining 30 per cent are on death row.
“The plan is to release some of the inmates through prerogative of mercy in conjunction with state governors; expansion and relocation of congested prisons as some states have agreed to provide adequate land for this.
“Also one half-way house will be established in each geopolitical zone to prepare inmates for reintegration into the society shortly before their release.
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