States got N5.03tn support under Buhari – FG

The Federal Government has revealed that states got over N5 trillion support since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office on May 29, 2015.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, revealed this at the sixth edition of the presentation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration scorecard (2015-2023) in Abuja on Thursday.

She said the funds were released as 13 per cent derivation for oil-producing states, ecological funds, refunds for construction of federal roads, support for stabilisation and COVID-19 interventions.

This, she said, was different from various intervention funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), among others.

She also said a further $3.4 billion was also released to States during the same period.

“A total of N5.03 trillion plus an additional US$3.4 billion has been released to the states by the Federal Government over the life of this administration.

“Each of these payments has distinct repayment terms with some given as grants and others as loans with favourable repayment terms, including a long amortisation period.

“The support covers the 13 per cent derivation refund to oil-producing states, refund for construction of federal  roads, ecological support and support from the stabilisation fund, COVID intervention, among others.

“On 13 per cent derivation, there are details that will be provided on state-by-state releases. These releases are not just starting now.

“In my report, you saw that it occurred in several periods. But for the recent one, we negotiated to disburse it over 60 months period and we just started that about two months ago.

“So, basically the governor was not sharing the recent one. But there are some that have been disbursed and concluded. There is a plan that it is supposed to be disbursed over a 60-month period.

“We took the pain to negotiate 60 months because of the tariff fiscal rate. So, the disbursement is from the savings of the federation account.

“If we give out from the savings, it is affecting what is available for distribution to all tiers of government,” the minister said.

She highlighted the various distribution to states as follows:
•13% derivation N1.978tn
•Paris Club Refund $2.67bn
•Ecological Fund N204bn
•COVID intervention N50bn
•Federal Roads repair N648bn