Tag: Minister of Finance

Alleged $2.4bn Crude Oil Illegal Sale: H/Reps may issue arrest warrant on AGF, Fin. Minister

Aminu Imam

The House of Representatives has threatened to issue warrant of arrest on the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, as well as the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, if they fail to appear for its on-going probe on sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil amounting to over $2.4 billion, and crude oil export to global destinations. The House ad-hoc committee investigating an alleged loss of over $2.4 billion from illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export in 2015, including crude…

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Humanitarian Minister blames Zainab Ahmed of masterminding N206bn budget padding

Aminu Imam

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiyya Farouq, has blamed the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, for adding N206bn to the humanitarian ministrys budget. Farouq, who appeared before the Senate Committee on Special Duties on Monday to defend its 2023 budget, claimed that the ministry requested some projects for the North-East Development Commission and the National Social Safety Net Project in the 2022 Budget, which were not released, but was surprised to see an inflated amount in the 2023 budget of the ministry. A controversy ensued at…

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“Nigerias economic growth is weak, needs more taxes”, says Finance Minister, Zainab

Aminu Imam

Nigerias economy may have been growing over the last seven quarters, but this growth rate is not strong enough to drive the needed developments in the country, and for this to happen, more people need to pay their taxes. This was one of the views expressed by Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance during a plenary session at the on-going 28th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES28). These consecutive quarters of economic growth have not resulted in improved standards of living for the average Nigerian, as alluded to by the minister, who said…

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Naira Redesign: CBN replies Finance Minister, says Nigeria under threat

Aminu Imam

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has officially responded to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Plannings claim that she was not informed of the decision to redesign the naira notes. Recall that the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Wednesday announced the introduction of newly designed notes of N200, N500 and N1, 000, which he said would be in circulation by December 15, 2022. Giving further reason why the decision was taken, CBN spokesman, Osita Nwanisobi, in a statement said: Currency management in the country had faced several escalating…

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Group calls for ministers sack for opposing new Naira notes

Aminu Imam

A socio-cultural group, Oduduwa Youths, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed over her disapproval of the decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to redesign the Naira. The group, in an issued statement by one Ade Balogun, said the Ministers attack on the new naira, despite knowing that the CBN Governor got approval from the President shows that she wants to ruin Buharis agenda to save the economy. The group insisted that the apex bank doesnt owe…

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Planned New Naira Notes: Finance Minister disagrees with CBN over currency redesigning

Aminu Imam

Warns of consequences Two days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced a planned redesign of the naira the minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmad, has rejected the idea, warning that it will have a devastating effect on the economy. Zainab, who totally disowned the policy during budget defence at the Senate, said there would be severe consequences. Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Wednesday announced the introduction of newly designed notes of N200, N500 and N1, 000, which he…

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Nigerias foreign debt unsustainable – Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, finally admits

Aminu Imam

After a long period of insisting that Nigeria had no debt problem, but only revenue short-fall, the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, has finally admitted to the contrary, saying that the nation’s debt stock is no longer sustainable. Recall that the Minister had argued stridently in the past three years that Nigerias debt-GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was within a safe threshold, which became the administration’s mantra for contracting more frivolous loans for consumption. However, she recently made a U-turn, as she was quoted to have stated that Nigeria was considering re-ordering…

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Mounting Debt: ‘More taxation the only wayto reduce Nigerias debt burden’ Zainab Ahmed

Aminu Imam

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, says more tax collection and blockage of revenue leakages were the only realistic ways of reducing the countrys mounting debt burden. Ahmed stated this at a workshop on tax expenditure, organised by the ECOWAS Commission under the Context of the Implementation of the Support Programme for Tax Transition in West Africa (PATF) in Abuja, on Tuesday. The Minister, who was represented by the Director, Technical Services in the Ministry, Fatima Hayatu, said the issue of tax expenditure was a great…

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Debt servicing surpasses revenue as FG releases Q1 data

Aminu Imam

…N1.94 tr spent between January-April The cost of servicing debt surpassed the federal governments retained revenue by N310 billion in the first four months of 2022. This is contained in the 2023 2025 Medium-Term Fiscal Framework/ Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTFF/FSP) report, presented by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Zainab Ahmed. According to the report, as of April 2022, a sum of N1.63 trillion was earned as the federal government retained revenue, accounting for 49% of the prorated target of N3.32 trillion. This is significantly lower than the projected revenue…

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H/Reps summon Petroleum, Finance Ministers, NNPC, CBN, others over poor state of refineries

Aminu Imam

The House of Representatives has invited the minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd, Mele Kyari, and the governor of Central Bank (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to appear before it next week Thursday to give an account of the true state of refineries and what is needed to be done for them to function at maximum refining capacity. The House Adhoc Committee investigating the state of refineries in the…

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