The Finance Minister, Wale Edun, recently mentioned in an interview with Channels TV that only around 5% of the Nigerian population possesses bank account balances exceeding N500,000.
Edun emphasized that the ongoing reforms by the federal government aim to address economic imbalances that have disproportionately favored a select group of elites over the majority of citizens in the past eight years.
He elaborated on the microeconomic reforms, emphasizing their goal of redirecting government revenue into the national treasury to promote a more equitable distribution of resources.
“There has been an effort to ensure that the people’s money is not in the hands of a few. And on that point, I must emphasize that when we talk about the last eight years before Mr. President came to power, there was this liquidity built up.
“The Issue was that the funds were going to a few. Only about 5% of the population have bank accounts that have more than half a million in them. So, the majority was left out for eight years. They are on the sidelines while a small minority enjoyed.”
“That is the major correction being made by Mr. President now. That is the major microeconomic reforms that have put in place.
“So therefore, government revenue that was outside the federal government consolidated revenue funds have been brought back to the government funds,” Edun said.
He added that president Tinubu is working to ameliorate the poverty of the masses as well as the high cost of living by providing a palliative package of N25,000 to N15 million households for the next three months.
“Food prices have gone up and the people’s purchasing power is limited and that is what Mr. President is speaking to through the intervention programmes of direct payment of N75,000 each over three months. That is, N25,000 a month to 15 million households.
“And each household is about 5 people and that is effectively providing funding for N75 million people.
“That programme has been revamped to make sure that it is robust, that each beneficiary will have a NIN number or BVN number or access to mobile money account so that we are sure that the right people are paid and the system is fraud-free.”
