President Bola Tinubu has highlighted his success in meeting Nigeria’s financial obligations over the past three months without resorting to funds from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited or utilizing the Central Bank of Nigeria’s “Ways and Means” financing.
During his first media chat on Monday, the president expressed pride in not relying on the traditional financial sources, stating that he had successfully fulfilled the nation’s financial commitments without tapping into the NNPC’s remittances or borrowing from the CBN’s Ways and Means.
He described this achievement as “excellent.”
Tinubu, while speaking with confidence, remarked that he had not used a penny from NNPC to meet obligations, emphasizing that he managed the country’s finances in a manner that deviated from previous practices.
He further noted that he had not sought any financing through the CBN’s Ways and Means, a mechanism that provides short-term funding to the government.
When questioned about whether he was scoring himself, Tinubu said he believed he deserved a grade if he had done his work correctly.
In a related context, in September 2024, Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso criticized his predecessor, Godwin Emefiele, for damaging the Nigerian economy by excessive money printing and injecting liquidity into the system. Cardoso revealed that money supply in Nigeria had surged from N19 trillion in 2015 to N54 trillion by 2023, largely due to the use of “Ways and Means.” Tinubu added that this sharp increase in money supply led to inflationary pressures, with too much money chasing too few goods.
“Push me to my brag mode, in the last three months, I’ve not taken a penny from NNPC before I meet my other obligations. To me, that is excellent.
” Without going into Ways and Means, I’ve met all obligations,” he boasted.
“In 2015, the money supply was about N19tn, and in 2023, it was N54tn. That’s a huge increase, a very huge increase. And then a substantial amount of that was through ways and means.
“So, essentially, the printing of money resulted in a huge amount of money chasing the same amount of goods or a relative amount of goods. I think that context is very important to have,” Tinubu added.
