Tinubu Govt does not rely on Ways & Means to pay salaries, says Wale Edun

Kunle Sanni

The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun says the administration of President Bola Tinubu does not rely on Ways & Means to pay salaries and to finance external debt service.

He said the administration has adopted and implemented a robust campaign to source for funding.

Edun made these remarks while addressing state house correspondents about his presentation at the federal executive council (FEC) meeting chaired by Tinubu.

“I can say quite categorically that under President Bola Tinubu, the federal government does not rely on ways and means in order to fund itself,” Edun said.

“At no time have we gone to Mr. President and requested permission to seek funding from Central Bank to pay anybody, be it external debt service, be it share capital cash calls, or any other of the liabilities that the government has.

“As we have all agencies, we are focused on ensuring that the revenue that is due to the federal government is collected robustly, using technology to avoid the blockages, which manual processing can cause and it has led to a very robust revenue effort and likewise, we are implementing expenditure controls, also very ably empowered by technology.

“So within that context, what we have is that we had legacy, Mr. President inherited a legacy of N22.7 trillion in outstanding ways and means, which have been securitised on the eve of the entry of President Tinubu’s administration.”

The minister also acknowledged the inherited legacy of N22.7 trillion in outstanding Ways and Means which were securitised just before Tinubu’s administration began.