Labour union members on Monday welcomed acting Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, with solidarity songs as she assumed her new office.
Mrs Ahmed was appointed finance minister by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday to replace Kemi Adeosun, who resigned over a forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate.
She was met at the entrance to her office building in Abuja by singing unionists.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, and other directors, were also on hand to receive the supervising minister,
While addressing members of staff, Ahmed promised to work closely with the permanent secretary to catch up on the activities of the ministry.
“These are very challenging times for our country.
“It means we are part of the economic team that has been charged with making sure there is economic stability in our country.
“We have very serious revenue challenges and it is up to us to shore up the revenues of this country.
“Mr President has a lot of confidence that we can do this. We are working for Mr President, but at the end of the day, we are working for the benefit of the citizens of our country.
“There are a lot of sacrifices that I know that you have done, and we are going to push ourselves to still do more so that at the end of the day we will say Alhamdulillah– glory be to God,” she said.
Before her new appointment, Ahmed was the minister of state, budget and national planning.
She also held several critical positions in the past including the executive secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and managing director, Kaduna Investment Company, to mention but a few.
