Retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, recently appointed as Sole Administrator of Rivers State, participated in his first National Economic Council (NEC) meeting on Thursday, held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The session was presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima and saw the attendance of several state governors and deputy governors from across Nigeria’s 36 states.
Ibas, who assumed the role in March 2025 following the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara by President Bola Tinubu, joined other top state officials in deliberating key national economic matters.
Among those present were Governors Alex Otti (Abia), Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), Abdulrahman Abdulrazak (Kwara), Monday Okpebholo (Edo), and Bassey Otu (Cross River), among others.
A notable moment in the proceedings came when Governor Oborevwori, who recently joined the All Progressives Congress (APC), was invited by the Vice President to offer the opening prayers.
The meeting also paused to observe a minute of silence in honor of victims of recent violent attacks in Plateau, Benue, and Kwara states.
Vice President Shettima led a prayer for the departed souls and extended the Council’s sympathies to the affected families.
This marks Ibas’s formal entry into the country’s highest economic decision-making body, setting the tone for his administrative engagement with national governance in the months ahead.
