FG Demands N614bn Bailout Refund From States

• FG Demands N614bn Bailout Refund From States

The Federal government has ordered that the N614 billion disbursed to 35 states under the National Budget Support Loan Facility, be returned due to challenges faced by the Federal government on revenue generation.

In a meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbanjo, it was decided that a combined team of the Ministry of Finance and the Nigeria Governors Forum, would cooperate with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to come up with a repayment formula.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, revealed this on Thursday while briefing state house correspondents about the outcome of the NEC meeting.

According to the minister, each of the 35 states received N17.5 billion as bailout funds for urgent needs in the state including; payment of civil servants’ salary arrears and pension settlement of retirees, amongst others.

The Minister also said that the NEC was briefed about preparations for the 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework/ Fiscal Strategy Paper as well as revenue generation problems faced by the government. Adding that the balance on Stabilization Fund Account and Natural Resources Development Fund as at 20th August 2019, was a total of $95,329,245.24

NEC committee on Export, headed by the Jigawa State Governor, Mr Mohammed Badaru-Abubakar while presenting the report of his committee told the NCE that execution of the Zero Oil Plan will produce $150 billion to the country’s foreign reserved.

This was revealed to journalists by the governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullai Sule who while quoting the Committee Chairman said, “The implementation of the plan is expected to yield results in three key areas; add an extra UDS150 billion to Nigeria’s foreign reserves accumulatively from non-oil exports over the next ten years, create 500,000 jobs annually, and lift 20 million Nigerians out of Poverty”.

He also disclosed other achievements of the NEC Committee on Exports including; an increase in non-oil exports from $1.17 billion in 2016 to $3.16 billion in 2018. He added that it meant that strategic sectors identified in the Zero oil plans have witnessed some growths.

“For instance, cocoa exports have risen by $79.4 million since 2017, while sesame exports have also increased by $153 million since 2016; an increase of more than 100 per cent,”  he said.