The Federal Government (FG) has disclosed its intention to audit the N23 trillion Ways and Means loan which was approved by the administration of former President, Muhammadu Buhari. This was made known on Tuesday by Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy during the Public Wealth Management Conference organized by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) to address strategies to manage the assets and resources of the country for the overall wellbeing of the citizens.
Edun said, “We have to stem liquidity. The Central Bank has led the way in pointing out that the Ways and Means have to be tailed down and eliminated and that is what we agree with.
“We are doing in that direction, there was inherited amount of N22.7 trillion in backlogs. We are auditing it and it is like when I am ready to pay a loan from a bank and I ask for an audit before finding the agreed sum to pay.
“But apart from that, how do you get your Ways and Means down? We have to get revenues up and expenditure reduced as much as possible.”
In May 2023, the Senate approved the request of former President Buhari’s administration for N22.7 trillion loans from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) extended to the FG in accordance with the Ways and Means provision.
The Ways and Means provision allows the FG to borrow from the CBN, if it requires emergency funds to augment spending until revenue is generated.
The Governor of the CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, stated that the apex bank would not provide Ways and Means to the current administration until the previous loans are repaid, adding that it was one of the measures taken by the CBN with the view of curtailing the economic downturn currently being experienced in the country.
