Buhari Govt’s Support States With N2trn — Presidency

The Presidency has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has extended more than N2 trillion in bailout packages to state governments.
The bailout, it said, was to enable them to meet their salary and pension obligations, especially in the face of dwindling oil revenues.

This is contained in a fact sheet highlighting the achievements of Buhari’s government in different sectors between 2015 and 2023 released yesterday by the Presidential Communications Team.

According to Daily Trust, The report said the packages to state governments included N614 billion Budget Support Facility; $5.4bn Paris Club Refunds; N700bn Infrastructure Loans & Refunds and a reduction in debt service burden amounting to N575.5bn.

It also said the anti-corruption drive of the Buhari administration had yielded more than N210bn in recoveries from inflated, misappropriated, misapplied personnel budgets and capital expenditures by various government agencies.

In 2022, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), according to the fact sheet, recorded N91bn in recovered stolen assets.

In the area of infrastructure, the report said more than N600bn worth of Sukuk Bonds had been raised since 2017 for more than 40 critical road projects across all six geopolitical zones.

“Between November 25 and December 13, 2021, the Federal Government handed over to benefiting communities 941 km of completed Sukuk road projects connecting 10 states in five geo-political zones of the country,” it added.

According to the report, about N3trillion had been mobilised or committed through Executive Order 7 for road projects across all six geopolitical zones by Dangote Group, MTN, BUA, NLNG and NNPC Limited.

Daily Trust reports that the Order, issued by President Buhari on January 25, 2019 allowed companies willing and able to spend their own funds on constructing critical roads to recover their construction costs by paying reduced taxes, over a period of time, and in a transparent manner.

Daily Trust