…Directs SGF to assign Minister of State with more mandates, responsibilities
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may have stripped the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, of some critical powers in the nation’s financial sector.
This was as it was gathered that President Tinubu’s decision to transfer some of the critical responsibilities of the Minister to the Minister of State, may have stemmed from what an insider described as “growing tardy and inefficient implementation” of federal government’s economic decisions around fiscal policies.
The development Forefront learnt is making Edun to contemplate possible resignation from office as he perceived it as a vote of no confidence in his capability to continue to effectively manage and/or coordinate the economy.
Sources within the presidency told Forefront News that Edun was to turn in his resignation last Monday, but was prevailed upon to tarry awhile to allow for the implementation of President Bola Tinubu’s directive that a number of specific mandates be taken away from the Finance Minister’s schedules and transferred to the existing schedules of the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite.
A source close to the Federal Ministry of Finance, said the development really rattled Edun as he never contemplated such a move, thus felt uncomfortable upon receiving the memo stripping his office of some responsibilities, but was advised to approach the situation prudently without creating the impression that he was unhappy with the president’s decision.
The source further said that Edun, who is battling with some health issues, has recently become uninspiring in driving the administration’s fiscal policies, including managing government revenue, expenditure and the national budget among others.
It was further gathered that Edun’s slow approach to handling decisions has negatively impacted the economy, a situation that made President Tinubu became uncomfortable with his handling of the economy, thus resolved to activate the option of updating the Finance Minister’s responsibilities with a view to addressing the mischief of tardiness and inefficiency that has dogged Edun’s office in recent times.
The source further said; “I can tell authoritatively that the President is not happy with the gale of criticisms of major economic policies, including the new tax regime, that are suffering from the ministry’s tepid advocacy and engagement with the critical sectors”.
The president’s resolve to strip Edun of some key responsibilities was contained in a State House memo dated December 4, 2025 and addressed to the Secretary to the Federal Government, Senator George Akume, titled: “Re: Updated Responsibilities of the Honourable Minister of State for Finance”.
The memo which was signed by the Private Secretary to the President, Mr Damilotun Aderemi, it was gathered, was delivered to the Mr Edun by the SGF.
The memo states: “I write on the directive of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to forward the attached document on the above subject matter to you and to request that you issue a necessary memorandum implementing same as updated responsibilities of the Honourable Minister of State finance.
“The office will be specifically responsible for domestic finances of the Federation including revenue generation, revenue distribution and all domestic debt management.
“Additional specific mandates and oversight: in addition to the existing mandate of the office: (a) Home Finance, (b) Technical Services, (c) Cash Management, (d) Revenue Sharing amongst the tiers of Government and Federation Account, (e) All Domestic Debt Management, (f) Nigerian Customs Service, (g) Development Finance,” it said.
The finance minister, it was further gathered is yet to activate the administrative processes of transferring some of the core responsibilities of his office to the Minister of state.
It also gathered that the partial implementation of the 2024 budget and the non-implementation of the 2025 budget were attributed to the tardiness and inefficiency of Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun, who was expected to be firm and focused in pushing through the federal government’s fiscal policy measures.
