Buhari’s Eight Years Of Printing Money Without Productivity Threw Nation Into Woes – Edun

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Wale Edu, on Wednesday, accused ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration of being responsible for the current economic woes in the country.

Edun stated this during an interactive session with the Senate Committee on Finance, saying that during the period, the printing of Naira in trillions was done without corresponding productive operations in the economy.

According to him, the N22 7 trillion printed by the Central Bank of Nigeria through Ways and Means overdraft for the Federal Government of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023, led the country into hyperinflation currently ravaging the citizenry.

He said that the consequence of the eight years of printing money without productivity was high inflation confronting the country now.

“We talked about inflation, and you have helped to solve that. Where has it come from?

“It’ came from eight years of just printing money not matched by productivity. 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 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. That’s 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 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. We are going to audit even the N22.7 trillion printed aimlessly”, he said.

He however, told the Committee members that various damage-mitigating economic policies being rolled out by the present government, would bring about great recoveries in terms of lower Inflation rate and improved GDP growth rate in the short run

He also hinted that rather than indulging in such money printing or seeking avoidable loans, the President Bola Tinubu-led government was succeeding greatly in the area of revenue generation with over N13 trillion revenue generated from the non-oil sector in 2023 and the trajectory being improved upon in 2024 going by revenues made in January and February.

The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sani Musa (APC Niger East), said that the interactive session would be a continuous exercise in knowing the short-term and long-term plans of the government on the way out of the precarious situation.