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Tag: Finance Minister

  • $1.1bn ‘Green lmperative’ Loan ‘ll Create Jobs, Guarantee Food Security, Others – Finance Minister

    The Minister of Finance, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, Thursday, stated that the $ 1 billion loan facility under the ‘Green Imperative’, which is one of the products of the diversification initiatives of the Federal Government will create massive jobs, food security, food self-sufficiency in all the 774 Local Government Areas of the nation.

    Ahmed stated this in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance on Media and Communications, Paul Ella Abechi, during official launch of the project by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    Meanwhile, expressing optimism about the positive results the loan will yield under the ‘Green Imperative’ initiative in the agric sector, she said there is no doubt that the project will transform economic landscape of the country.

    She maintained that nothing will deter President Muhammadu Buhari from continuing with the diversification drive that is already yielding positive results within three years, especially through the agricultural sector.

    She also commended the Vice President’s commitment towards securing the loan from Brazil following his personally held meetings with Team of Experts from Brazil and his strong support for the project which has made the launching of it a reality including the resilience demonstrated by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe, who had personally led Nigerian delegations to Brazil to initiate and develop the project with the Brazilian ’think tank’ and relevant stakeholders.

    According to her the ‘Green lmperative’ was designed to promote agricultural mechanization, create employment opportunities for the energetic youth and help achieve food self-sufficiency and added that more details about the project will be explained by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

    She said: “The project we are launching today will be implemented with a total loan package of US$1.1billion majorly from the Brazilian Government which will be disbursed in four tranches over a period of two years.

    “l have no doubt that this project will help to ensure food self – sufficiency, create more employment opportunities for our teeming population and also help transform the economic landscape of Nigeria.

    “It is pertinent to state here that greater percentage of the loan will be provided in kind through the supply of agricultural machineries and implements in form of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) parts.

    “This arrangement is expected to reduce fiduciary risks and create more employment opportunities for our teeming youth and those that will be involved in assembling the machineries and implements.

    “Another important benefit of the project is that its implementation will be purely private sector led in all its operations including the assembling of the machineries/ implements, operation of the service centres and the agro-processing centres.

    “The project will be implemented in all the 774 Local Government Areas of the country in phases. Let me use this opportunity to sensitize the Nigerian private sector, youth and women to get ready for business. The selection of the participants in this project will be done on merit as our concern is nothing but the success of the project. We will ensure that participation is devoid of politics and any form of nepotism.”

    The Minister also commended the Brazilian government’s support and commitment to the project.

    “Let me at this point thank the Government and people of Brazil for their support and commitment to this project. Nigeria and Brazil have similar climatic and soil conditions that make Brazilian agricultural implements easily adaptable in Nigeria. I understand that a tractor manufactured in Brazil in 1946 is still in use till today.

    “This is the kind of technology that we will need in this country. I do hope such rugged tractors are what you will deploy for this project. I will like to express my appreciation to other partners like the Deutche Bank and Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) for their support in this project”, she stated.

  • We’re not aware of NNPC’s $3.5bn subsidy fund – Finance Ministry tells Senate

    The Federal Ministry of Finance has denied knowledge of a $3.5 billion fund allegedly kept and utilised by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for fuel subsidy.

    The Permanent Secretary, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, gave the ministry’s position when he appeared before the Senate ad hoc committee probing the allegation in Abuja on Thursday.

    Mr Isa-Dutse’s claim appeared to corroborate the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, who restated the agency’s denial that it had no such fund in its custody.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the allegation emanated from the Minority Leader of the Senate, Abiodun Olujimi, at plenary on October 16.

    In a point of order, Mrs Olujimi had alleged there was a $3.5 billion “Subsidy Recovery Fund being managed only by the GMD and Executive Director, Finance, of the NNPC”.

    It was on the basis of that allegation that the Senate set up the committee, chaired by the Majority Leader, Ahmed Lawan.

    Mr Isa-Dutse said the ministry was only aware of the outstanding payments under the old subsidy regime, being handled by the Debt Management Office (DMO).

    “As far as the current fuel importation regime is concerned, the Ministry of Finance does not have any account it is operating.

    “We are not aware of the alleged $3.5 billion fund, and we do not maintain any subsidy fund account,” he said.

    The NNPC had earlier denied the $3.5 billion subsidy fund claim in a statement on October 17.

    The GMD explained on Thursday that the agency was only utilising a revolving fund of $1.05 billion to defray the cost of under-recovery in the importation of fuel.

    Asked by the lawmakers to differentiate between subsidy and the “cost of under-recovery”, Mr Baru said subsidy was usually captured in the national budget, while the latter was not.

    The $1.05 billion, according to him, is part of the NNPC’s operational costs.

    He said the money was sourced from the corporation’s share dividend in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) and domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    Mr Baru explained that the action was in line with section 7 (4)(b) of the NNPC Act, which mandated it to defray its operational costs from its revenue.

    “This 1.05 billion dollars is being administered under a steering committee that was set up, and a working committee that handles daily operations of this fund.

    “These committees comprise representatives of the Minister of Finance, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Accountant General of the Federation, CBN, Petroleum Pricing Regulatory Agency, Petroleum Equalisation Fund Management Board, Directorate of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC.

    “The fund is being transparently administered according to laid down processes and governance.

    “I would like this honourable committee to note that the actions of NNPC were in compliance with the National Assembly directive that NNPC, as the supplier of last resort should, and has, maintained robust petrol supply and distribution to the nation.

    “Currently, no other oil company imports petrol due to the high landing cost above the N145 per litre price ceiling on sale of the product, and also due to the lack of provision for subsidy in the Appropriation Acts since 2016,” he explained.

    The GMD assured the committee that the NNPC would continue to guarantee energy security in the country by maintaining PMS supply at the approved pump price of N145 per litre, except directed otherwise.

    When Mr Lawan requested documents to back up his claims, Mr Baru said they were not immediately available and asked for one month to present them to the committee.

    But the lawmaker gave him two weeks to furnish the committee with the documents, and adjourned the hearing till November 6.

  • $8.1bn refund: MTN, other big businesses taking Nigeria for granted – Finance minister

    The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed on Tuesday said big businesses operating in Nigeria are taking the Federal Government and stipulated regulations for granted.
     
    Ahmed, who was responding to a question on the recent sanction that was imposed on MTN Nigeria Communications Limited by the Central Bank of Nigeria, while speaking during a session at the 24th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, stated that the telecommunications firm only provided what the CBN requested after the bank ordered it and some affected Deposit Money Banks to refund about $8.1bn.
     
    She said, “The MTN incident was a very damaging one for us and that was one of the reasons why we have been out trying to engage our investors. But you see there is a tendency for big businesses to take regulation and government for granted.
     
    “Only after that incident happened, all of the information that the CBN had been trying to get for months actually came out. Now, I think they are up to a point where they have almost solved the problem.
     
    “And this is information that the CBN governor had personally met with MTN, with the key banks involved and had asked them to provide the information,”
     
    Recall that the apex bank on August 30 imposed heavy fines totalling N5.87bn on four banks under its regulatory purview for alleged illegal funds repatriation.
     
    It also directed the management of the banks and MTN Nigeria Communications Limited to immediately refund to the apex bank $8,134,312,397.63, which was said to have been illegally repatriated by the company.
     
    The CBN had asked the banks and MTN to refund the money over what it described as ‘flagrant violation of extant laws and regulations of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, including the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1995 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Foreign Exchange Manual, 2006’.
     
    The four banks that came under the sledge hammer of the CBN for the violations were Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic-IBTC, Citibank and Diamond Bank.
     
    Speaking further in the development, Zainab stated that the information that was being requested for by the CBN from MTN and the banks had to do with an audit that took place over a period of two years.
     
    She said, “It was an audit that took place over the course of two and a half years and the auditors were not satisfied with some of the information.
     
    “They queried and they asked for additional information. Unfortunately, this was negative for us but is now being sorted out and we are bearing the cost of it. We have been engaging investors and trying to explain what is happening.”
     
    Responding to the question on which company would be next to receive the kind of sanction MTN received, Ahmed said, “We are trying to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. We are continuously discussing with the regulatory authorities and there will be no company next after MTN. Nobody is next because we just can’t afford this kind of incidence to happen.”

  • Nigeria has revenue problems – Acting finance minister declares

    Nigeria has revenue problems – Acting finance minister declares

    The Acting Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, says Nigeria does not have debt problem because the country’s debt ratio to GDP is below the three per cent threshold set by the Fiscal Reasonability Act.
    She noted that the main challenge confronting the nation is revenue problem, saying that the nation lacks the revenue to pay salaries and to also meet the recurrent and capital expenditures.
    She added that the national debt appears high because the country is currently facing a low revenue challenge.
    Ahmed said this on Friday during a visit to the Nigeria Customs Service Headquarters in Abuja.
    The minister also stressed the importance of improving revenue generation to enable Nigeria to achieve its economic objectives.
    She said, “People have raised concerns about our debt profile, but we do not have a debt problem.
    “Our debt ratio to GDP is still below three per cent, which is the threshold set by the Fiscal Reasonability Act.
    “What we have is a revenue problem. We don’t have revenue to pay salaries and to meet the recurrent as well as the capital expenditure.”
    Ahmed said the functions of the NCS in regard to revenue generation were germane to the success of the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
    According to the minister, it is for this reason that the NCS is constantly being pushed to improve revenue collections.
    Ahmed said government had considered raising Value Added Tax and Excise Duty as well as including more items on the Excise Duty list.
    She said however that government had decided to hold on to the idea until the economic condition in the country improved.
     
     

  • Buhari’s Finance Minister, Adeosun denies passing derogatory remarks on Igbos

    Buhari’s Finance Minister, Adeosun denies passing derogatory remarks on Igbos

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun has denied passing insulting statements on Igbos.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that one Twitter user @RealMicahDavid had retwitted a statement alleged twitted by the minister suggesting her hatred for the igbos

    David twitted: I will keep poping up this hate speech by @HMKemiAdeosun the Nigeria minister until she defends herself.

    The alleged statement credited to the Minister had claimed she was happy that the Igbos were fading in financial relevance and would completely become financially inconsequential both in their homeland and the country by 2023.

    But she has denied ever insulting the Igbo people as reflected in the tweet which had undergone thousands of retweets:

    The minister also denied making such hateful comments on her Facebook account, she wrote: “It has come to my attention that there’s a fake Twitter post circulating in my name, suggesting that I said something derogatory about Igbos. Kindly disregard it. “It’s nothing but a shoddy attempt to photoshop a hateful statement onto my Twitter handle. I did not say or tweet any such thing. “Every part of Nigeria is important to our financial system and our economy, and as a Government, we will support ALL to achieve their full potential.”