Federal Government Examines 22.7 Trillion CBN “Ways and Means” Loans—Edun
Wale Edun, minister of finance and economic coordination, has said that the Bola Tinubu administration is conducting an audit of the 22.7 trillion-naira Ways and Means loans that were granted by the Buhari administration.
At Tuesday’s Public Wealth Management Conference in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, the minister of finance made the announcement and said that further information would be available soon.
In order to find solutions to manage the country’s assets and resources for the benefit of the people as a whole, the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) organised the event.
Among those in attendance at the conference were Vice President Kashim Shettima, Ministers Doris Uzoka-Anite and Abubakar Kyari of Industry, Trade and Investment; and Governor Bassey Otu of Cross Rivers State.
Attendees included diplomats, businesspeople, and representatives from the World Bank.
The minister of finance went on to say that the current Tinubu government is doing everything it can to combat the skyrocketing inflation rate and the escalating food and general commodity prices that they inherited from the previous administration.
The minister of finance assured the Nigerian people that their plight was being addressed and that the federal government was cognizant of the situation.
As part of the interventions, he claims, 42,000 metric tonnes of grains have been released, with an additional 60,000 metric tonnes set to be released shortly.
Just before the Buhari administration was to leave office in May 2023, the Senate granted the president’s request to reorganise the N22.7 trillion in loans that the CBN had given to the federal government under the Ways and Means clause.
If the federal government requires emergency funding to cover fiscal shortfalls that are likely to be paid for later than planned, it can borrow from the central bank under the ways and means clause.
The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, is presently the subject of an investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) run by the Tinubu administration. Emefiele oversaw the approval of the ways and means loans.