Council of State meeting holds at Presidential Villa this afternoon
All living former presidents and past heads of state have been asked to attend a Council of State meeting this afternoon at the Presidential Villa to be presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Empowered Newswire can report exclusively.
This is the first Council of State meeting to be called by President Tinubu since he assumed office last year May and informed sources explained that top on the agenda is the issue of the fallouts of the #EndBadGovernance protests which took place from August 1 and later fizzled out although it was planned to be a 10-day straight demonstrations.
The Protests seem to have created an impression in the Presidency that there are significant issues around national security especially because of the suspicion of the involvement of a foreign flag and foreigners in the planning of the marches in certain parts of the country.
An inside source explained that President Tinubu wanted to develop a national consensus in dealing with the aftermath of the protests and so decided to engage the Council of State which is essentially an advisory body, but with a wide representation including former presidents, all former Chief Justices, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, all State Governors and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
Besides the issues of the recent protests, serving ministers of the Tinubu administration are also billed to make presentations to the Council. While the ministers are not members, they have been specifically invited by the president to make the presentations. Other cabinet members expected to sit in include the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, the NSA, and the Special Adviser on Information & Strategy, among others.
Apart from the lead presentations by the National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, other presentations expected today include on
- Food Security by the Agriculture & Food Security Minister, *State of the Economy by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy,
- Road Construction by the Minister for Works and a presentation on
- Solid Minerals by the Minister in Charge of the Ministry.
Empowered Newswire gathered that a Zoom option was being discussed last night for the meeting, considering the short notice, which was sent out yesterday Monday.
Under the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, the Council of State has responsibilities in advising the President in the exercise of his/her powers with respect to the following:
national population census and compilation, publication and keeping of records, prerogative of mercy, awarding of national honours, the appointment of members of the Independent National Electoral Commission, the appointment of members of the National Judicial Council (other than ex-officio members of that Council), and the appointment of members of the National Population Commission.
It also advises the President whenever requested to do so on the maintenance of public order within the Federation or any part thereof and on such other matters as the President may direct.
It would be recalled that under the past Buhari administration, the Council acted during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria as well as during times of economic crisis.
The Council of State consists of the following persons:
- President, who is the Chairman
- Vice-President, who is the Deputy Chairman
- All former Presidents of the Federation and all former Heads of the Government of the Federation
- All former Chief Justices of Nigeria
- President of the Senate
- Speaker of the House of Representatives
- All the Governors of the states of the Federation
- Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation
