N614bn bailout refund: State governors panic as FG insists on repayment
- Nigerian state governors are reportedly making moves to beg the federal government to postpone their repayment if N614 billion bailout funds
- The federal government loaned the states the funds between 2015 and 2017 to pay salaries of their workers
- NGF's DG said paying the loan at this time may create another financial crisis for the governors as he listed some of their concerns
Nigerian state governors are reportedly panicking over the directive to repay the loans they received as bailouts from the federal government between 2015 and 2017 when they were facing financial crisis.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the states were loaned N614 billion under the bailout scheme tagged National Budget Support Loan Facility.
The budget support loan facility was occasioned by the recession which arose in the wake of 2016, and the states were specifically instructed to use the loan for payments of workers' salaries.
The finance minister, Zainab Ahmed, had last week said the states should commence repayment of the loan.
With the minister's announcement, the federal government commenced the process of collecting the loans back by putting together a committee comprising members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Ministry of Finance to draw up modalities for the repayment.
However, a report filed by Premium Times stated that the governors are uncomfortable with the development and had started looking for ways to get more time before repaying the loan.
The newspaper said an aide to one of the governors in the southwest, who asked not to be named, said the governors had agreed to address the issue collectively under the canopy of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.
He said the governors want the federal government to give them more time to pay the loans.
“But what I can tell you, is that the governors are holding a series of meetings, especially with the Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo. They are basically asking that they should be given more time to pay the loans,” the aide was quoted to have said.
Another source quoted by the newspaper reportedly claimed that the governors are panicking over the federal government's stance to collect the loan.
“You know most of the governors are new and they inherited the loans,” said the source who is reportedly close to the office of the chairman of the NGF, Kayode Fayemi.
“We know government is a continuum, but you know how it feels when you just resumed office in May and you are asked to start paying such loans in August.”
The governors are concerned that the federal government may be deducting the loans from their monthly allocations.
The director general of the NGF, Asishana Okauru, also reportedly said that the situation was creating serious concerns for the governors, who are unrelenting in finding a solution to the problem.
He said the governors are working out an exit strategy, but that he would not be able to make such public.
“They are thinking of the impact of the new minimum wage; they are thinking of the impact on the security situation in the country and their capacity to raise IGR; they are thinking of expenditure around health, education, innovation and all that,” Okauru said, while listing some of the concerns of the governors.
Despite the governors' moves, Premium Times reports that federal government is holding to its position on the commencement of repayment.
“The earlier position of the honourable minister that a team will be constituted to ‘finalise modality’ remains the position so far,” the special adviser to the finance minister on media and communication, Yunusa Abdullahi, was quoted to have said.
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Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the NGF had set machinery in motion to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to plead for reprieve.
Head of the NGF’s media and public affairs secretariat, Abdulrazaque Barkindo, said the governors would meet this month but dismissed inquiries on how states plan to refund their respective bailouts.
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Source: Legit.ng
