Minister of Finance Shamsuddeen Usman of Nigeria

You will not get much value out of that spending, Usman said in response to questions about why the government was not spending more of its windfall savings.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUNDUsman joined the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 1999 as a deputy governor in charge of domestic monetary and banking policy.

As shamsuddeen Usman takes over as planning ministerTHE Federal Government Tuesday attributed the economic woes of the country on what it described as lack of proper planning, just as it stressed that if Nigeria must achieve the set target of Vision 2020, the issue of planning must be taken very seriously.

Usman said the federal government retained Mrs.

But Usman said that Nigerians had not been fair to the administration, arguing that the government appeared slow because it was trying to fix some mistakes made by the previous administration and to avoid fresh ones.

Insurgent attacks on oil facilities in Niger Delta region has paralyzed Nigeria's oil industryThe removed ministers include those responsible for power, gas, aviation and national planning while Oil Minister Odein Ajumogobia and Finance Minister Shamsuddeen Usman remained in their jobs.

Minister of Finance, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman said due process in withdrawing the estimated sum was almost completed following the success of most state governors in receiving the needed endorsements of their respective state houses of assembly to participate in the power sector project.

Speaking at the 49th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES), yesterday in Abuja, Dr Usman said Nigeria presently needs huge capital investment on infrastructural development in order to move forward towards realizing the year 2020 vision as one of the 20 global economic giants.

Clearly it (budget) is being reviewed downwards and there has been a number of serious measures taken to reduce expenditure and improve efficiency," Finance Minister Shamsuddeen Usman said after an extraordinary cabinet meeting in the administrative capital.

road assets in a sustainable manner all seasons.

had been dovetailed into the Vision 2020.

Dr Usman has amassed over twenty years of experience in the Nigerian Banking Sector.

At the return to democracy in Nigeria in 1999, Usman was appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria incharge of Domestic Monetary and Banking Policy, now Financial Sector Surveillance.

Currently, Dr Usman is the Minister of Finance of Nigeria.

Dr Usman has also served as a President of the Nigerian Economic Society and is currently a fellow of the Society.

Usman said the return of democratic rule and government's investment friendly policies were yielding results.

Usman said Nigeria deserved a better rating this year.

not meet the deadline given to them.

Shamsuddeen Usman was appointed a Finance Minister; it was assumed that he would cut the 'wings' of Professor Soludo, the man who meant well for the Country.

Usman is coming from, based on the strained relationships between him and Soludo, one could easily guess and conclude that, given any opportunity, Dr.

Stressing that there will be continued reform of the Nigerian tax system in order to ensure that it is at par with the best in the world, Usman said a number of specific and general reform measures will be adopted.

Also, Usman said the NCS would receive great attention, in order to reform it for greater efficiency and accountability, assuring that, the reform agenda currently being pursued by the NCS will be reviewed and overhauled.

Minister of Finance, Shamsuddeen Usman has said that capital allocation in the 2008 budget might be slashed by 25 per cent.

Reviewing the performance of 2007 budget, Usman said that it had been sliding from 90 per cent to 38 per cent since 2004 and appealed to the committees to help to change the trend.

Finance Minister Shamsuddeen Usman said that a committee including Central Bank governor Chukwuma Soludo and President Umaru Yar’Adua’s economic adviser would meet in the coming weeks to finalise a blueprint for the fund.

We are scheduled to hold a meeting in the next week or two where we will hopefully come out with a final report, which will be submitted to the president,” Usman said here.

cover unspecified projects over the next three years.

We are scheduled to hold a meeting in the next week or two where we will hopefully come out with a final report, which will be submitted to the president,” Usman said in an interview in the capital Abuja late on Wednesday.

Shamsuddeen Usman said Royal Dutch Shell's (RDSA) move to lift a force majeure on its Forcados facility pointed to increased supply from Nigeria's crucial oil producing region, where oil production has been hit by persistent attacks from militia groups.

12-11-08 Substantial part of the risks emanating from the Nigerian oil and gas industry are still being underwritten by foreign insurance companies, Minister of Finance, Shamsuddeen Usman has lamented.

Usman said the new step taken by the CBN was to curb transfer of 419 money from unsuspecting foreign businessmen by unscrupulous Nigerians.

Nigeria's new Finance Minister Shamsuddeen Usman said on Thursday he would accelerate economic transformation and sustain macro-economic stability achieved under a reform programme launched in 2003.

Former central banker Usman said four years of reforms had achieved a level of stability and confidence in sub-Saharan Africa's second largest economy.

Usman said the poor performance of the power sector had dragged down efforts at promoting development and reducing poverty.

Usman said the president won the annual Micro-Finance/Entrepreneurship awards twice as the governor of Katsina State, and was still prepared to champion the course of the poor.

Usman said “I have heard comments that we are borrowing from the CBN but that is not what we are going to do.