Former presidents Muhammadu Buhari, Goodluck Jonathan, who attended the Council of State meeting on Tuesday physically, and all other former presidents who attended virtually, passed a vote of confidence in President Bola Tinubu.

Dele Alake, minister of solid minerals development, said this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Council of State meeting in Abuja.

“A lot of issues were exhaustively discussed at the meeting, and the governors were all in attendance as well as some ministers who were invited to make presentations.

“We made presentations on our road map, on what we’ve been able to achieve, the prospects and the challenges in our various ministries. At the end, we all passed a vote of confidence in President Tinubu,” he said.

He said the ministers of solid minerals, finance and the coordinating minister of the economy, trade and investment, budget and national planning, agriculture, works and attorney general were invited to make presentations to the Council.

He said the individual presentations by the ministers were well received based on the feedback received.

Mr Alake said the Council also discussed the recent nationwide protest, which he said was an attempt to effect a change of regime by force.

“And so the Council thanked Nigerians at large for resisting an unconstitutional move to change the government. If anybody is not satisfied with any government, there’s an election coming. So, wait for the election,” he said.

He said Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, also briefed the Council on the security situation in the country.

“We were assured that nobody will be allowed to truncate our hard-earned democracy.

“Any change of government has to be through the ballot, and not through the barrel of the gun, or through insurrection, or through any other unconstitutional means.

“We were reassured on the readiness of all security agencies in the country to secure our territorial integrity and to protect Nigeria’s democracy,” said Alake.

Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara and chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), said one of the outcomes of the Council of State meeting was the unanimous passage of a confidence of confidence in Mr Tinubu.

“Members, especially those of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, were satisfied with the presentation by the members of the Federal Executive Council.

“Members of the NGF also, like the members of the Council of State, passed a vote of confidence in Mr President,” said the governor.

Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the Economy, said he gave an update on the progress of macroeconomic policies being implemented by the Tinubu administration.

“These policies are anchored on eight priority areas; and the results to date have been very encouraging.

“We looked at the data, we reported on the evidence of this half year, which we compared to the first quarter and the second quarter of 2023.

“And in broad terms, the economy is growing. The balance of payments in particular, the trade balance and the currency balance are in surplus.

“The exchange rate is stabilising, and inflation is not uncomfortably high. It is slowing and it is set to fall,” said Mr Edun.

According to him, there has been support for the economy from foreign and domestic investors who are participating in important private public partnerships, particularly in the infrastructure sector.

“So, we reported that we will ensure that the interventions and the measures to ameliorate the high cost of living for individuals, for the agricultural sector, for industry, for small-scale businesses will continue to be implemented.

“On that basis, we reported an optimistic outlook for the Nigerian economy and the Nigerian society in general,” said Mr Edun.

(NAN)