President Muhammadu Buhari has asked for comprehensive “status reports on policies, programmes and projects” from cabinet members on their ministries, departments and agencies as his first term tenure winds down. Garba Shehu, the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja yesterday. The statement said the president gave the ministers April 24 as the deadline for the submission of the reports to the Presidential Audit Committee in the office of the vice president.

A circular to this effect issued by Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, also requested members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to ensure that all outstanding memoranda they intend to present to the Federal Executive Council are submitted to the Cabinet Affairs Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, not later than Tuesday, April 30, 2019. The circular informed members that the “9th and 10th meetings of the Council have been rescheduled to Thursday, April 25 and Thursday, May 2, 2019 respectively” in view of the Easter break and May Day celebrations.

Meanwhile, FEC yesterday approved a $247.3 million foreign loan facility from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and French Government to facilitate the financing of sundry electricity projects across the country. Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, gave the indication while briefing State House correspondents after the council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Council’s decision came even as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned about the country rising debt profile.

IMF, which released the new data on global debt on its website, put the total debt in Nigeria at 34 per cent of the nominal GDP of $376 billion as at December 2017, with private debt accounting for 36.6 per cent of the debt.