Wale Edun, minister of finance and the Coordinating minister of the economy has blamed the current inflation in the country on eight years of priting money without matching it with productivity by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Edun, speaking when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance on Wednesday said the money printed was benefitted by few individuals in the country.
“We talked about inflation, where has it come from? It’s come from eight years of just printing money. And the issue is that that money was not matched by productivity”,the minister said.
” It’s not like when you earn dollars and you free the naira alongside it, although there’s even a better way than that. But that’s still not as bad. It’s not as if the money is matched by productivity and increase in output. It is not. And what happened was that for eight years, the weak were left to their own devices. It is the privileged few that took everything” Edun asserted.
Edun reiterated the resolve of the Federal government to audit the 22.7 trillion ways and means advance under Former President Buhari’s regime.
“We are going to audit the 22.7 trillion. It’s still there and that also must be dealt with through the market, not through something that was just printed. But we will audit because we need to be sure”, he stressed.
“You, distinguished senators, have helped. You have given us the mandate to raise 7 trillion naira, which we will do by sucking money from the market, using it to pay back the central bank and give the government a balanced books”, he further said.
The Minister however assured members of the committee that the federal government would continue to find a lasting solution to the worsening economy.
Edun specifically told the lawmakers that rather than seeking loans, President Tinubu’s administration will increase the revenue generation of the country.
Responding, Sani Musa, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, assured that the lawmakers will continue to interface with the federal government and find a lasting solution to the worsening economic crisis.
