FG approves advisory council on industrialization

The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the constitution of the Nigeria Industrial and Competitive Advisory Council to stimulate growth in industry.

The council is meant to assist the federal government in formulating policies and strategies that will enhance the performance of the industrial sector in furtherance of the countries industrialization  programmes.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Trade and Investment Okechukwu Enelamah, while briefing journalists alongside the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Lai Mohammed and the Minister of Health Isaac Adewole, after the Federal Executive Council meeting which was attended by President Muhammadu Buhari today.

Enelamah said the industrial council will be chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, it will also have two vice presidents from both the government and the private sector and membership drawn from the private sector and relevant ministries.

The Council meeting which lasted for  an hour and thirty minutes also saw the approved a Draft Bill for National Centre for Disease Control.

According to Adewale, council approved the draft bill to give legal backing for the establishment of the National centre for disease control.

According to him, this will enable the agency to have its own board, recruit its personnel and appoint a CEO.

He said there is already a budget line for National Centre for Disease Control and the federal government was not going to incur any additional expenses.

According to the Minister, the center which has been operational since 2012 was instrumental in combating the deadly Ebola virus and Lassa Fever.

He said, “To move the agenda of public health intervention forward, what is known internationally is that they will always be another epidemic or another disease outbreak but what we do not know is when and where it will happen. What we need to do is to get ourselves prepared for the next epidemic.

“The National Council of Health in its meeting in Lagos in 2007, took a decision to establish a Nigerian center for disease control. The center became operational in 2012 and actually constituted a major force in combating Ebola and has been very operational in handling Lassa Fever in different parts of the country. So what we have done today is to provide a legal framework for this agency so that it can validly perform the role that is expected of such role that is expected of such frontline agency. It is patterned after the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention which was established in 1946. The whole concept is not new what is new is that we decided to move ahead with it in Nigeria.

“There is also a European Centre for Disease Control established in 2004 and in 2013 following a resolution in Abuja, African Union also decided to establish a center for disease control.

“Our center for disease control is a frontline agency that has been recognised internationally, it has been designated as the regional center for disease control in West Africa, it has also been designated as the regional center for the African center for disease and prevention.

“So with this approval, we can then move on working with National Assembly to put in place the necessary legislative action so that it can formally become an Act of Parliament.”

The minister also clarified that the agency has not been operating illegally. According to him, “It can be likened to a baby you have been carrying on your back and after sometimes you say this baby is big enough to walk and you say walk I will hold you by the hand. So, under the new dispensation, we will give a legal framework to the

establishment of the board for the agency, defined recruitment, how the director or the CEO of the agency will be appointed. These are things that have now been formalized. It has a budget line and so it’s actually not going incur any additional expenses. There is a budget line for National Center for Disease Control already.”