Barring any changes to the concluded arrangements, President Muhammadu Buhari, is to formally open the country’s governing structures with the recovering of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of his administration on Wednesday, May 13, after it was suspended for almost seven weeks.
President Buhari had suspended the weekly FEC meetings on March 23, until further notice, after the recommendation of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Coronavirus and in line with the shutdown and attendant regulations like social distancing intended to curb the pandemic.
The meeting which is scheduled to hold at the Council Chambers in Aso Rock, Abuja, via video teleconferencing, The Daily Leaks Exclusively gathered, is to physically have the President, VP, one or two ministers as well as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha, and the Head of Service in attendance from the Council Chambers while the other ministers will connect to the videoconferencing from their offices outside the Presidential villa.
ALSO READ: Nigeria running out of bed spaces at COVID-19 treatment centres, FG worried
The principle of social distance is being observed as recommended by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), hence, the cabinet ministers and other members of FEC are to hook up at their different locations to join President Buhari who will preside over the meeting.
Parts of the agenda for the meeting is believed to be the review of the COVID-19 situation in the country, the ease of lockdown, the national security security and state of the economy, including the management of post COVID-19 challenges among others.
It will be recalled that, the PTF, in recommending the suspension of FEC, had also in its submission, approved other additional measures which included the postponement of the meeting of Council of State which was to hold Thursday, March 26, 2020.
Also parts of other measures recommended by the PTF was that all land borders that have been under partial closure shall be closed to human traffic for four weeks effective from March 23, 2020, the day FEC was suspended.
The resumption of FEC via videoconferencing is seen as another indication that a new normal is now being in place for the work of the FG and it will become an example for both the public and private sector key meetings and conferences going forward.
