The Federal Government has announced plans to conduct an audit of the N23 trillion Ways and Means debt, revealed the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, at the ongoing Public Wealth Management Conference organized by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated in Abuja.
Edun also disclosed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC) has been tasked with enhancing oil production to bolster revenue.
Furthermore, he stated that a bill will be presented to the National Assembly to authorize the removal of all taxes and levies deemed burdensome from the country’s tax system as a measure to prevent future accumulation of Ways and Means indebtedness.
The government, Edun emphasized, will pursue policies aimed at ensuring real-time revenue collection from government-owned enterprises and corporate entities.
“We have to address liquidity issues. The Central Bank has highlighted the necessity to reduce and ultimately eliminate Ways and Means, a stance we align with,” Edun remarked.
“In this regard, we are auditing the inherited backlog of N22.7 trillion. It’s akin to conducting an audit before settling a loan with a bank. However, beyond that, reducing Ways and Means requires increasing revenue and minimizing expenditure,” he added.
Ways and Means refers to the funds provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the Federal Government temporarily to supplement spending until revenue is generated.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, has stated that the apex bank will refrain from providing Ways and Means to the President until previous loans are repaid, citing it as one of the measures taken to address the current economic challenges facing the nation.
More details to follow…
