The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, says the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari allegedly printed N22.7 trillion aimlessly in its eight-year regime.
Edun blamed the current inflation in the country on the printing of trillions of naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during the administration of Buhari, saying the money was printed without putting to good use.
The minister said this during an interface with the Senate Committee on Finance in Abuja on Wednesday, March 6, 2024.
He said: “The N22.7 trillion printed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through Ways and Means overdraft for the federal government from 2015 to 2023 landed Nigeria into hyper-inflation.
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“We talked about inflation. Where has it come from? It came from eight years of just printing money not matched by productivity. What happened was that for eight years, the weak were left to their own devices. It is the privileged few that took everything. That is the reality. So that money supply must be brought back.
“You distinguished senators have helped. You have given us the mandate to raise N7 trillion which we will do by sucking money from the market, using it to pay back the CBN and giving the government a balanced book. We are going to audit even the N22.7 trillion printed aimlessly.”
On his part, the chairman of the committee, Senator Sani Musa (APC Niger East), said the interactive session would be a continuous exercise so that the committee would have the opportunity of being updated on the short and long term plans of the government on how to tackle the current economic situation of the country.
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