Home BUSINESS BANKING & FINANCE Recovered $322.5 Billion Abacha Loot Earmarked For National Social Safety Nets –...

Recovered $322.5 Billion Abacha Loot Earmarked For National Social Safety Nets – Adeosun

The minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has said that the sum of $322,515,931.83 recovered Abacha funds from the Swiss Government is being transferred into a special account in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

At a joint news briefing along with the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, today, Sunday, at the end of the 2018 International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meeting in Washington DC, United States, said that the funds have been earmarked for the National Social Safety Nets programme of the Government.

Adeosun, who noted that the present growth outlook contrasted with the outlook in 2015, said that inflation rate is slowing down while the foreign reserves were rising.

“We are confident that if we diligently implement our economic plan, we will grow the economy. We have room to grow but other countries do not have rooms to grow.

“By 2019, the growth will be far more robust than the present level in 2018. We are therefore very optimistic in sustaining Nigeria’s economic growth. We are going to use this opportunity to grow our fiscal buffers, particularly aggressively growing our revenue base.

“The current administration has succeeded in building macroeconomic resilience for Nigeria, particularly revising the funding mix, rebuilding fiscal buffers, enhancing foreign exchange reserves and focusing on import substitution strategies.”

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On State-Owned-Enterprises such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), she said that the Government would continue to efficiently and effectively manage their costs and plug leakages.

“We must make sure that every money that is earned comes in; we will drive the process of improving governance.”

Adeosun said that the present Administration has raised the tax payers’ base from 13 million in 2015 to 17 million as at 2018.

“The objective of the National Social Safety Nets Project for Nigeria is to provide access to targeted transfers to poor and vulnerable households under an expanded national social safety nets system,” Adeosun stated.

The CBN Governor also reiterated Nigeria’s positive growth outlook, noting that a growth of 2.5 per cent had been projected by the IMF and World Bank for Nigeria.

He said that the country’s foreign reserves had risen to US$47.93 billion.

“There is need to save for the raining day and also continue to grow the foreign reserves. If we had enough reserves, we wouldn’t have suffered the recession shocks,” he explained.

He assured that efforts are being made for the country to realize the 80 per cent target for financial inclusion by 2020.