From Isaac Anumihe and Adline Elechi, Abuja
The Federal Government has blamed severe dollar shortages, dwindling crude oil earnings and costly subsidy policies for its decision to print more than N30 trillion three years ago.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the country had been struggling to meet its foreign exchange obligations, leaving businesses, individuals and foreign airlines unable to access or recover their money.
The minister spoke yesterday at the 56th Annual Accountants’ Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Abuja.
Oyedele said the foreign exchange crisis had become so severe that young Nigerians could not use their bank cards to pay for digital transactions and services needed to earn a living online. Manufacturers were also struggling, as international suppliers no longer trusted letters of credit issued by Nigerian banks, while companies that managed to obtain dollars had to pay heavy premiums.
“Only the highly connected got dollars and they ran three pits and everybody bought at a premium. Some companies were closing down,” he said.
The minister said the crisis also affected international airlines, which could not easily repatriate ticket sales and other earnings from Nigeria.
“The likes of Emirates says what’s the point? Fly people to Nigeria and not be able to repatriate their money. We became the number one country in the world with the highest indebtedness to airlines. They could not get their money,” he said.
He further blamed the country’s subsidy arrangements, arguing that the system had reached a point where government funds were also being subsidised.
“We did subsidy to the extent that we had subsidised government money. We started to see fusion production of products,” he said.
Oyedele said the shortage of crude oil available to the government worsened the situation, explaining that much of the country’s crude had already been committed, leaving less than 100,000 barrels per day before President Bola Tinubu intervened.
“You can blame anyone that you like but the reality is we do not have crude. You cannot give what you don’t have. So we ran out of dollars,” he said.
According to the minister, these pressures contributed to the decision to print more than N30 trillion three years ago, as the government struggled to manage its financial obligations and keep the economy running.
His remarks have brought renewed attention to the country’s past monetary and fiscal decisions, particularly the consequences of financing government needs amid shortages of foreign exchange and oil revenue.