Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on
Wednesday said in constituting his cabinet, President Muhammadu Buhari
would not name any minister as the Coordinating Minister of the Economy.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala combined that
office with the portfolio of the Minister of Finance under the
administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
“We are not going to have a system like where there was a coordinating minister. No, there would not be anything like that.
“My role is to ensure that everyone that
is involved in economic activities, that there is a way by which the
President is fully apprised of what everyone is doing such that we are
all on the same page and to make it easier for the President to make
decisions,” Osinbajo told his guest.
He also expressed the Federal
Government’s willingness to deepen the existing bilateral relations,
especially in the area of economic cooperation with Australia, in
mining, agriculture, shipping and transport sectors as well as in the
area of infrastructure development.
He said the government would be
interested in exploring deeper relationship on economic cooperation as
it is a major area in diversifying the nation’s economy.
He lauded Nigeria’s excellent bilateral
relations with Australia and commended the Australian government for the
various capacity building initiatives in Nigeria and its investments in
some key sectors of the economy.
The High Commissioner said his country
was seeking to enhance relations with Nigeria in areas of commercial
development and was ready to offer technical assistance in some sectors
which the country has given priority to.
Meanwhile, Osinbajo had said that the
Tuesday public opening of technical and commercial bids for the purchase
and sale of Nigeria’s crude oil was in keeping Buhari’s pledge to run
an open and transparent government.
He promised that the present administration would continue the tradition.
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