Mrs. Zainab Ahmed: 24th Nigerian Minister of Finance
Zainab Shamsuna Ahme is a renowned Nigerian accountant and distinguished Abusite who has been serving as Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning since 2019. At the time, President Muhammadu Buhari brought the two ministries under her as one, making her the de facto Minister of Economy.
Mrs Ahmed was appointed as Finance Minister upon the resignation of the previous Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun on 14 September 2018. In 2015, she was appointed as the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning by President Buhari.
Mrs. Zainab Ahmed is the 24th Nigerian Minister of Finance.
Mrs. Zainab Ahmed was born on June 16, 1960, and was the immediate past executive secretary and national coordinator of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). She was also a member of the last two NEITI boards, having worked in the NEITI and global EITI.
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An accountant by profession with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from ABU Zaria and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), Mrs Ahmed has extensive knowledge and diverse experience in public sector reform and management.
Mrs. Zainab Ahmed’s MBA was obtained in August 2004 from the Ogun State University, Ago Iwoye; while her BSc Accounting (1981) was from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; IJMB ‘A’ Levels (1979) from SBS/ABU Zaria; and WASC ‘O’ Level in 1977 from Queen Amina College, Kaduna.
Upon graduation, Mrs Ahmed was employed in 1982 as an Accountant II in the Main Accounts of Ministry of Finance in Kaduna State and was promoted to Accountant I in March 1984, but resigned in 1985 to join NITEL.
Earlier, she had done her National Youth Service in Kaduna State in 1981/1982 where she was posted for primary assignment to Messrs. Egunjobi Suleiman & Co. Chartered Accountants, and served as an Audit Trainee.
Mrs. Zainab Ahmed has served the Nigerian public in various high ranking positions, including as managing director of the Kaduna State of Nigeria’s investment company, and also the chief finance officer of the Nigeria mobile telecommunications company.
Apart from her stint at NEITI, between March 2009 and October 2010, she served as managing director of the Kaduna Industrial and Finance Co. Ltd (KIFC); acting chief finance officer at Nigerian Mobile Telecommunications Ltd (MTEL) between July 2002 to March 2009.
In the same vein, between March 1985 to June 2002, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed also served at the Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd (NITEL), where she was senior officer (finance) and moved up the level of deputy general manager in charge of corporate treasury until 2002.
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Her other professional qualifications include Fellow, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria; Fellow, Institute of Company and Commercial Accountants and Member, Chartered Institute of Management Taxation as well as Member, Nigerian Institute of Management.
Other Positions Held
- African Development Bank (AfDB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2018)
- International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2018)
- Islamic Development Bank, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2018)
- World Bank, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2018)
Mrs. Zainab Ahmed’s Achievements of Minister of Finance
Since assuming office as the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed identified inadequate revenue as the government’s biggest challenge.
She subsequently “prioritized revenue generation as the biggest challenge”. As a result, she steered her team to implement some revenue growth strategies aimed at boosting revenue performance, by deploying new initiatives.
She constituted eight Tax Appeal Tribunals across the country to accelerate the resolution of over 209 pending cases relating to tax revenues of about $18.804 billion, N205.654 billion and €0.821 million. The tribunals were critical to ensuring taxpayers get a fair hearing and expedite the resolution of tax disputes.
Mrs. Zainab Ahmed believes that, through the tax dispute resolution mechanism, the government will reduce the incidences of tax evasion and improve payers’ confidence whilst ensuring fairness and transparency of tax.
To take advantage of innovative technologies, she has leverage data, technological tools, and platforms to foster collaboration, grow the revenue base and improve collections.
One of such technological tools is the national single window/trade platform, which the government deploys at the ports in the New Year to help improve ease of doing business and enhance Nigeria Customs revenue collections from 40 percent to 90.
Also, the Ministry of Finance under Mrs. Zainab Ahmed has improved collaboration between revenue collection agencies, including the Nigerian Customs Services (NCS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and other trade partners to share information and intelligence that will help improve revenue and make collections more efficient.
By automating many of the revenue collection processes, such as the deployment of health-pay in the health sector, edu-pay in education and e-collections by our Revenue Authorities, the government has seen revenue shore up to high levels.
Under her tenure as the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed has promised to continue championing such digitalization transformation initiatives that have proven to be a good way forward for revenue generation drive.
To improve accountability and ultimately improve the performance of Government-owned Enterprises (GOEs), she has reviewed the expenditure plans of the revenue-generating entities backed by a more proactive revenue tracking and monitoring mechanism.
On the expenditure side, despite the revenue shortfalls, the government has been able to pay salaries and service debts 100 percent.
Besides, apart from releasing seven months overhead funding for the various ministries, departments and agencies.
Other achievements included defraying all inherited debts and liabilities since 2015, including the refund of the $5.4 billion Paris Club debt over deductions; payment of the $6.8 billion Joint Venture (JV) Cash Call arrears and N1.9 trillion contractor/Export Expansion Grant as well as N488 billion refund to States for roads.
As part of the present administration’s efforts to ensure all pensioners get their entitlements, the Ministry, through the Pension Commission, paid N54 billion outstanding pension arrears from 2014, 2015 and 2016, 2017.
Again, based on verification outcome by the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), the ministry also paid the entitlements of over 2,000 former workers of the defunct national carrier- Nigeria Airways Limited. And monthly payments of another 9,215 former workers of NITEL/Mtel after over 12 years via Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD).
Over N571million was paid as gratuity and arrears to 174 Biafra War affected retired Police Officers (WARPRO)
On initiatives targeted at recovering looted public funds, the Whistleblower unit recovered billion in naira and more than $465 million from the investigations conducted from tip-offs received, while the Efficiency unit reviewed Federal Government’s overhead expenditures.
In addition, the Voluntary Assets & Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) recovered over N35 billion, with a significant increase to the country’s tax base, particularly discovered assets that were not reported in the books of accounts of the Federation.
The introduction of IPPIS in tertiary institutions is another remarkable achievement of the minister that has blocked a major leakage and save the government significant revenue.
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