Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, may have been stripped of critical powers in the nation’s financial activities, a situation that is making him to is contemplate resignation from office.
This is what sources claim to be a vote of no confidence in Edun’s capability to continue to effectively manage and/or coordinate the economy.
THE CONCLAVE learnt from sources close to the development that Edun would have turned 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.
One of the sources said that Edun, who felt uncomfortable upon receiving the memo stripping his office of some responsibilities, was advised to approach the situation prudently without creating the impression that he was unhappy with the president’s decision.
President Tinubu’s decision to transfer some critical responsibilities to the minister of state, as learnt, stemmed from the growing tardy and inefficient implementation of federal government’s economic decisions around fiscal policies.
THE CONCLAVE learnt that Edun, who is weighed down by some health issues, has been consequently uninspiring in driving the administration’s fiscal policies, including managing government revenue, spending and the national budget among others.
A source said that Edun’s slow approach to handling decisions has negatively impacted the economy, a situation that angered President Tinubu who decided to activate the option of updating the responsibilities of the minister of state to cure the mischief of tardiness and inefficiency that has dogged Edun’s office in recent times.
The President, THE CONCLAVE, learnt, is not too 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 decision to sidestep Edun by stripping him of certain responsibilities was contained in a State House memo to the Secretary to the Federal Government, Senator George Akume, dated December 4, 2025.
The memo, entitled: “Re: Updated Responsibilities of the Honourable Minister of State for Finance” and signed by the Private Secretary to the President, Mr Damilotun Aderemi, THE CONCLAVE learnt, was personally delivered to the Minister of Finance by the SGF.
The memo reads: “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 attached document, referenced supra, entitled “UPDATED Responsibilities of the Honourable Minister of State for Finance” reads in extenso: “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.”
THE CONCLAVE gathered that the memo was to be effected immediately, but Edun had yet, as of press time, to activate the administrative processes of transferring what appeared to be the core responsibilities of his office to the minister of state.
He was instead unhappy and planning to resign, even though the president was not interested in dropping him from his cabinet so that he would not be seen to have “humiliated” his hitherto dependable long-time ally.
Feelers on Friday, while President Tinubu was presenting the 2026 budget to the National Assembly, were that the non full implementation of 2024 and 2025 budgets were displeasing to Nigerians, especially the non release of funds for capital projects was at variance with the policy of the Federal Government to drive the economy forward and improve infrastructure in critical government institutions and projects.
It is believed that the incomplete implementation of the 2024 budget and the non-implementation of the 2025 budget were somewhat due to the tardiness and inefficiency of Wale Edun as minister of finance.
He was expected to be firm and sharply focused in pushing through the federal government’s fiscal policy measures.
As it is, the situation at the Federal Ministry of Finance is tentative amid expectations that some positive steps could be taken to improve the economic situation in the country before the year ends.
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