President Bola Tinubu-led federal government has announced a plan to conduct a thorough audit of the N23 trillion in Ways and Means debt that was accumulated during the previous administration.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, shared this decision at the ongoing Public Wealth Management Conference organized by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated.
The audit aims to address and understand the complexities surrounding the significant debt and to create a more transparent financial system.
Edun also mentioned that the government will propose a bill to the National Assembly to request authorization to remove all taxes and levies that are considered unnecessary from the country’s tax system.
He stated that the decision is part of a larger plan to decrease dependence on Ways and Means borrowing moving forward.
It is important to remember that Godwin Emefiele, the previous governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was associated with a “fraud” case related to Ways and Means.
Ways and Means is a method used by the CBN to fund the government’s budget deficits. Recently, Emefiele’s replacement, Olayemi Cardoso, announced that the CBN will no longer provide Ways and Means to the President.
