The Federal Government has unveiled plans to introduce a mass savings scheme aimed at reducing reliance on borrowing and expanding domestic investment, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has said.\n<\/p>\n
Edun disclosed this during a panel session on Tuesday, at the launch of the latest Nigeria Development Update by the World Bank in Abuja, noting that the initiative would enable Nigerians across income levels to invest and earn returns while supporting economic growth.\n<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cThere are mass savings schemes which allow people at all levels of society to save and earn unearned income, including from companies such as refineries and other large firms listed on the stock exchange.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The minister explained that the government was deliberately shifting away from heavy reliance on debt financing, particularly amid rising borrowing costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my first answer is that we do not intend to keep going cap in hand to the debt markets, particularly at the elevated cost, even internationally, for developing countries,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
According to him, alternative funding options such as domestic savings mobilisation and equity participation would play a larger role going forward, especially as the government seeks to crowd in private capital.\n<\/p>\n
He said the initiative aligns with broader reforms aimed at strengthening public finances, including improved revenue tracking and expenditure control.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have migrated all the revenue-generating ministries, departments, and agencies onto a platform where we can see all the revenue, what is expected, and confirm that it is actually received,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
Edun added that the government was also reviewing cost-of-collection frameworks across agencies to ensure efficiency and transparency.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cSome agencies operate what they call the cost of collection, but it is the excess, the surplus, that belongs to the government. We are shining a light on that,\u201d he stated.\n<\/p>\n
He said forensic audits were being deployed as part of efforts to curb leakages and ensure value for money.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cForensic audits are useful to check and double-check that the government is not paying too much. They are a constant tool used to ensure that public finances are not shortchanged,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
The minister further noted that asset optimisation strategies such as privatisation and public-private partnerships were being pursued to support fiscal sustainability.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking at optimising assets, including divestment, privatisation, and PPP arrangements,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also pointed to ongoing efforts to reduce the cost of governance, including personnel-related expenses, as part of measures to improve spending efficiency.\n<\/p>\n
Edun acknowledged the strain posed by rising debt service costs, noting that interest rates had increased sharply in recent years. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe interest rate that the government was paying rose from about eight per cent to about 24 per cent by late 2024,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
He explained that the reforms being implemented \u2014 ranging from revenue recovery to expenditure control and private investment mobilisation \u2014 were designed to ease fiscal pressures over time.\n<\/p>\n
On the broader economy, Edun said Nigeria remained resilient despite the impact of the Middle East conflict on global energy markets.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, prices have gone up, but supply remains available. There is resilience that keeps the wheels of the Nigerian economy and society turning,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
He attributed this to reforms carried out under the administration of President Bola Tinubu, noting that the economy was now better positioned to absorb external shocks.<\/p>\n
Edun added that while higher oil prices could boost government revenues, they also come with rising costs and inflationary pressures.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is the prospect of increased revenue for the government, but on the other hand, costs have also gone up,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
He noted that the government was taking a cautious approach to the uncertain global environment.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are hoping for the best, but planning for the worst,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
The minister stressed that beyond fiscal and monetary measures, investment remains the key driver of poverty reduction.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way we are going to substantially lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty is through investment \u2014 not only large-scale investment, but also small and medium-scale investment,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
He added that ongoing reforms have created a more open and market-driven economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe now have market pricing of foreign exchange, market pricing of petroleum products, and an economy that offers opportunity,\u201d he said, urging Nigerians to take advantage of emerging investment opportunities.\n<\/p>\n
At the opening session of the G-24 Technical Group Meeting in Abuja, Edun had earlier said Nigeria was deliberately shifting from expensive external borrowing to a growth model anchored on private capital and domestic reforms.\n<\/p>\n
However, PUNCH Online earlier reported that the Federal Government increased its borrowing plan for 2026 to N29.20 trillion following an expansion in the proposed budget size.\n<\/p>\n
The figure represents an increase of N11.31tn compared to the earlier N17.89tn borrowing projection contained in the 2026 Abridged Budget Call Circular issued by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Federal Government has unveiled plans to introduce a mass savings scheme aimed at reducing reliance on borrowing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,180703,180704,62,1294,1391,86660,47029,180705,146133,106651,56,54,55,35565],"class_list":{"0":"post-518529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-debt-financing","10":"tag-domestic-investment","11":"tag-economic-growth","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-federal-government","14":"tag-fiscal-policy","15":"tag-government-borrowing","16":"tag-mass-savings-scheme","17":"tag-nigerian-economy","18":"tag-public-finance","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom","22":"tag-wale-edun"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}