The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, says direct disbursement of funds to local government councils will not commence immediately.
There has been expectations among Nigerians that the local councils will now get their funds directly from the federation account in line with the judgment of the Supreme Court on financial autonomy for the local councils.
Edun said this will however wait until the government is properly advised by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
“The actual proceeding has not been handed down to the AGF,” the finance minister said at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday,.
Edun said a committee comprised of representatives of federal, states, local governments, and the Attorney-General, is working on the implementation.
He said one of the impediments to the implementation of the judgment is the absence of elected local government officials in most states.
“The President is a democrat, he believes in federalism, he believes in fiscal federalism. What has come to pass now is a new regime, a new fiscal regime, where through the joint states and local government account, funding will go directly to the local governments.”
The minister also spoke on the success of government initiatives in fiscal management and revenue generation.
“I am pleased to report that our efforts have yielded tangible results. Aggregate Federal Government revenue for the first half of this year has more than doubled compared to the corresponding period in 2023,” he added.
According to him, non-oil revenues have also jumped 30 per cent higher than the budgeted expectations.
“This underscores our commitment to reducing reliance on volatile oil revenues and expanding our tax base,” he said, adding that the government has also substantially attracted portfolio and Foreign Direct Investments which also bolstered the country’s financial markets.
“Foreign portfolio investment has seen a substantial increase, reflecting growing investor confidence in our economic reforms,” Edun affirmed.
On inflation, the minister claimed that the rate is slowing in spite of the rise recorded in June.
To shore up the value of the Nigerian currency which has flummoxed in the last one year, said the government plans to issue $500 million in domestic foreign currency-denominated bonds in the next three to four weeks.
“We have an open exchange rate system, it’s not illegal and so we have the issuance of a dollar-denominated security, not depending on the financial architecture of the Western world, not depending on the kind of architecture that you use to raise Eurobonds.
“We’re using the Nigerian financial system, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the banking system, the investment bankers to issue $500 million in the first instance that will be available and will attract foreign currency held by Nigerians abroad and anybody else who buys into the macroeconomic reform efforts of President Bola Tinubu.
“That issue is a challenge to the best and the brightest in the financial markets. It is due to open in the next three to four weeks maximum.”