Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, yesterday disclosed that the federal government has succeeded in recovering N49.7billion out of its N5.2trillion debt. She also informed that the federal government will spend N296 billion on COVID-19 vaccinations in 2021 and 2022. She also confirmed that the supplementary budget for procurement of security equipment and COVID-19 vaccines being prepared by the federal government is not ready yet. Ahmed disclosed this to State House correspondents after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. She was speaking on the council’s approval for the second phase of Project Lighthouse, which is a component that is meant to expand the debt recovery capability of the project. Project Lighthouse, according to the minister, is a data engine that collects, integrates and analyses data from revenue generating agencies in order to create insightful information for improved decision making. She said Messrs Carter House Consulting, a Nigerian technology company, who has worked with the ministry for three years, won the first phase of the contract in May 2019 and the second phase that was approved on Wednesday was in the sum of N316.5 million.