Fed Govt: We Supported States with N5.03tr In Seven Years

The Evangelist
December 2, 2022

Twenty-four hours after the Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, blamed rising poverty and hardship on them, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said the states got N5.03 trillion support from the Federal Government in seven years.

The amount was different from the 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.

The minister, who spoke at the sixth edition of the presentation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration scorecard (2015-2023) in Abuja, said the country was not broke despite financial difficulties.

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.

She noted that the funds were given to the states with different repayment terms, explaining that some were given as grants and others as loans with favourable repayment terms, including an amortisation period.

The minister said: “With respect to sub-national governments, the FMFBNP (Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning) goes over and above its statutory role to provide financial support for states.

“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.”

According to the minister, her ministry plans to disclose the details of its state-by-state release of the 13 per cent derivation refund.

The disbursement of the fund to the beneficiary states, she noted, has come a long way but about two months ago, the ministry negotiated and commenced another disbursement of the 13 per cent for 60 months.

She noted that since the fund is from the federation account, it is always taking a toll on what is available for distribution to the three tiers of government.

Mrs. Ahmed said: “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.”