Buhari Govt Bailed Out States With N2 Trillion – Presidency

The Presidency has said that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari bailed out state governments with more than N2 trillion.

Naija News reports that this was disclosed in a statement on Sunday by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.

The presidential aide stated that the bailout packages were part of the Buhari-led administration’s achievements in different sectors spanning his eight years of rule.

Adesina stated that the bailout was to enable the state governors to meet their salary and pension obligations, especially in the face of dwindling oil revenues.

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.

Anti-corruption Drive

The presidency 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.

It added that in 2022, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) recorded N91bn in recovered stolen assets.

Infrastructure

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.

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.