The Federal Executive Council gave support to the development of Staple Crop Processing zones across the country which is projected to add 9 billion Dollars to the nation’s economy over the next 5 years
The bill giving life to the zones is one of 9 draft bills aimed at repositioning key sectors such as Transportation, Works and Environment and making them more private sector friendly
Now that the elections are on hold for six weeks, Government is back to going through the motions that would demonstrate that it has not stopped working
Therefore the Federal Executive Council is back on cue, on Wednesday approving a plethora of draft bills
The National Policy on Staple crop Processing zones for instance is aimed at creating according to the comparative advantage of the 36 states, zones that will house crop processing industries which are expected to be set up by the private sector
It is projected that nine billion Dollars will be generated if the setting up of these industries across the country prove successful
Worth mentioning is the draft bill for the establishment of the Great Green Wall Agency which will give legal backing to the ambitious project of government to plant 60 million drought resistant trees from Arewa local Government in Kebbi state to Abadan local Government in Borno state
The project will build a barrier across 1500km of desert land with a width of 15km
Aside from these bills, the Council of Ministers approved eight other draft bills including the National Transport Commission bill, the Nigerian Railways Authority bill, the Nigerian Ports and Harbour Authority bill and the National Inland Waterways Authority bill,
Other bills approved are the National Roads fund bill, the Federal Roads Authority bill, the Nigerian Postal Commission bill and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection bill
The National Assembly will have its work cut out as these bills are forwarded to it in the next few weeks
