25 Million Citizens Benefiting From FG’s Interventions – Wale Edun

The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, has said a total of 25 million Nigerians are benefiting from different intervention programs of the federal government.

Wale Edun listed the intervention programmes to include digital outreach, microenterprise loans, sector-specific support for power, and agriculture.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy stated this while briefing the National Economic Council (NEC) on the state of the economy, during its 145 meeting, on Thursday.

According to his report, “the Excess Crude Account stands at $473,754.57, the Natural Resources Fund at ₦26,105,837,627.67, and the Stabilization Account at ₦36,299,452,763.62.”

Speaking on the impact of the federal government’s economic relief measures, Edun told NEC chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima that  25 million Nigerians are “benefitting from federal social protection initiatives, including digital outreach, microenterprise loans, and sector-specific support for power, agriculture, manufacturing, health, and compressed natural gas (CNG) initiatives”.

According to a statement from Shettima’s spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, Edun, also disclosed that the government has a new policy that would permit Nigerians holding the United States dollar outside the formal banking system to deposit the funds into the financial system within nine months.

“Mr. Edun announced a new government policy that would permit Nigerians who currently hold dollars outside the formal banking system to bring those funds into the financial system within a nine-month period, without facing any legal liability or financial penalties,” Nkwocha quoted him.