Mrs Zainab Ahmed, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, has stated that the country is not broke and can pay its debts in the short, medium, and long terms.
Mrs Ahmed gave a presentation to the country on the performance of her ministry over the previous seven years on December 1st in Abuja.
She said: “Nigeria isn’t broke. We continue to generate revenue on a monthly basis and these revenues are distributed at FAAC. We also disclose how much is distributed monthly to the three tiers of government.”
The Minister added that although the nation does not make enough money, its revenue is increasing and oil thefts are decreasing as well.
Ahmed also disclosed that NNPC now produces roughly 1.3 million barrels daily, up from about 800,000 earlier.
She said: “We have also witnessed a significant increase in non-oil revenue. Unfortunately, oil revenue has underperformed because of criminality but recently the NNPC has reported that has been curtailed and we are beginning to see a pick-up in production levels. This means more revenue will come to the government.
“What we have isn’t enough to cover what we need hence the borrowings.
“There is a debt management board chaired by the Vice President. The debt management strategies are being followed judiciously. At 33 per cent of GDP, we are still the lowest within countries that are our comparatives.
“But again, I still say we have a revenue problem in spite of the increase in non-oil revenue because our performance is 8-9 per cent of GDP, the revenue is not enough. We are a population of about 200 million who deserve service. Our consumption level is low. So we need to keep looking for ways to incentivize the business so MSMEs who are the largest contribution to labour and economy continue to grow.”
Speaking on assistance to developments in the states, Ahmed said: “A total of N5.03 trillion plus an additional US$3.4 billion has been released to states by the Federal Government over the life of this administration. The support covers the 13% Derivation Refund to Oil Producing States, refund for Construction of Federal Roads, Ecological Support, Support from the Development of Natural Resources Fund, Paris Club refunds, Support from the Stabilisation Fund, COVID-19 intervention, amongst others.”
