Tinubu’s anti-graft chief indicts Gambari, Zainab Ahmed for looting N17.3tr with Emefiele

President Bola Tinubu’s special investigator probing the books of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Jim Obazee, has accused Ibrahim Gambari and Zainab Ahmed of involvement in mismanaging over N17 trillion in public funds in connivance with Godwin Emefiele. The two officials, who served respectively as Chief of Staff and Finance Minister under former President Muhammadu Buhari, were blamed for a series of questionable use of ways and means instrument of the CBN that left the country unable to account for N17.3 trillion. “Stealing of public funds through advances to…

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Ex-Finance minister, Zainab Ahmed accused of nominating self for World Bank job

Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has been accused of nominating herself to fill the position of an Alternative Executive Director (AED) in the World Bank, a position meant for the country. According to a report by World Street Journal, Ahmed deliberately circumvented the process using her position as minister to hold down the position for eight months to enable her nominate herself and foist a fait accompli on the World Bank Group. By her action, the report said, Nigeria was been denied the opportunity to present…

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$2.4bn Stolen Crude Oil Probe: Again, Reps invite Malami, Zainab

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged loss of over $2.4 billion in revenue from the illegal sale of 48 million barrels of crude oil export in 2015 including crude oil exports from 2014 till date has again invited the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed and Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami to appear before it today. Speaking at the hearing the Chairman of the committee, Hon. Gbillah emphasized the need for the ministers to appear before it to explain certain aspects of the…

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FG sets aside N15bn to secure school children – Zainab Ahmed

The Federal Government has disclosed that the sum of N15 billion in the 2023 budget has been set aside to secure school children sequel to violent attacks and kidnapping of school children in various parts of the country. The outgoing Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed made this known on Monday in Abuja, at the training of safe school administrators. She noted that to ensure the security of the children who are still in school, urgent steps have to be taken so as not to swell…

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Group calls for minister’s sack for opposing new Naira notes

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 Minister’s attack on the new naira, despite knowing that the CBN Governor got approval from the President shows that she wants to ruin Buhari’s agenda to save the economy. The group insisted that the apex bank doesn’t owe…

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Mounting Debt: ‘More taxation the only way to reduce Nigeria’s debt burden’ – Zainab Ahmed

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 country’s 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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Nigeria bleeds, as massive judgement debts cripple nation’s finances

The rising judgment debts awarded against Nigeria by local and international courts of arbitrations for contracts violations have continued to assail the nation’s finances. The situation has left the nation counting huge losses as the Government grapples with reduced revenues. The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and (SAN) had last Monday disclosed that the Federal Government had settled a long-standing $5.26billion contractual dispute with a foreign investor group in the steel sector for the sum of $496million. According to Malami, the mediation proceedings were…

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Budget 2023: “There may be no money for capital projects” – Finance Minister

…As FG proposes N19.76tr for Budget The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, yesterday painted a grim picture of what the infrastructural efforts of the Federal Government would look like, saying the Federal Government may not be able to make provision for treasury-funded capital projects in 2023. Ahmed gave the hint while presenting the 2023-2025 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF) before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance; she put the aggregate expenditure of the government for 2023 at N19.76 trillion. The Minister…

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‘Nigeria’s economy faring better under Buhari than previous govts.’ — Finance Minister

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has argued that the country’s economy is performing better now under President Muhammadu Buhari than was the case under previous administrations. Ahmed, who stated this after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, explained that the m Excess Crude Account (ECA) is depleted because it has not been funded for some time. She also said the money was withdrawn from the account to purchase arms for the prosecution of…

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Debt servicing surpasses revenue as FG releases Q1 data

…N1.94 tr spent between January-April The cost of servicing debt surpassed the federal government’s 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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