President Muhammadu Buhari has started the process of debriefing permanent secretaries who have been in charge of ministries in the absence of ministers with the aim of ascertaining the state of the nation he inherited from former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The strategy is to match their presentations with the contents of the handover notes of Ministries, Departments and Agencies presented to him by the last administration.
On Monday, the President met separately with teams from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Nwaobia, led her ministry’s team while her counterpart in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Sunday Enocho, led his team to the closed-door sessions.
Nwobia confirmed to State House correspondents that she and members of her team were at the Presidential Villa, to brief the President of the ministry’s activities.
She said although the economy was facing challenges of drop in revenue, the nation’s finance was in good condition.
She promised that her ministry would continue to work out ways to shore up revenue in order to meet expenditure.
She said, “The state of Nigerian finances is okay, our finances are still okay, though we are still going through challenges of revenue stream to government.
“This you know obviously is from the oil shock; the price of oil that has dropped.
“It has significantly reduced the revenue stream to government, but we are working on other ways to see how we can shore up the revenue, so that we will be able to meet our expenditure.”
Nwaobia said after her presentation, Buhari told the team what he expects in certain aspects of the ministry’s operations.
She did not disclose the aspects.
She also said the Central Bank of Nigeria was in the process of verifying subsidy claims put up by marketers.
The permanent secretary said it was only after the verification had been completed, that the claims could be paid.
“We did not say that we will not pay subsidy, like the former minister said, there is a liability on subsidy which is being verified by the CBN and the Budget Office of the Federation.
“The issue had to do with the forex differentials which they were claiming and this committee is looking into it.
“As soon as it is resolved, we will be able to pay the verified amount also when the committee finishes its work,” she explained.
She said the allegation of reckless spending by the last administration was not discussed during the meeting with the President because the issue was discussed thoroughly at the last National Economic Council meeting.
Nwaobia also faulted reports of massive looting in the ministries as a result of absence of ministers, saying the statement was unfair. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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