L
LequteMan
Guest
President Muhammadu Buhari has addressed reports that funds will be drawn from the Excess Crude Account as the relief package approved for states and local governments.
There are reports that $1.7bn was withdrawn from the ECA, leaving $0.3bn, a term some refer to as the "liquidation" of the ECA.
Read: President Buhari Releases N1.2tr for State Govts to Pay Workers Salaries
But in a press release signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Femi Adesina, Buhari said the reports are not true and unfounded.
Buhari said measures approved to to deal with the problem of unpaid public sector salaries in many states include the following:
"The measures approved by President Buhari definitely do not include drawing down the remaining balance in the Excess Crude Account or the "liquidation" of the account as some media outlets have wrongly reported.
"No such decision has been taken or approved by President Buhari, and last week's meeting of the National Economic Council clearly concluded that the Excess Crude Account should be left untouched at this time.
There are reports that $1.7bn was withdrawn from the ECA, leaving $0.3bn, a term some refer to as the "liquidation" of the ECA.
Read: President Buhari Releases N1.2tr for State Govts to Pay Workers Salaries
But in a press release signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Femi Adesina, Buhari said the reports are not true and unfounded.
Buhari said measures approved to to deal with the problem of unpaid public sector salaries in many states include the following:
- The sharing of the $2.1 Billion dividend paid to the Federation Account by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG);
- A Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging from N250 Billion to N300 Billion. This will be a soft loan available to states for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries; and
- A debt relief program designed by the Debt Management Office which will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660 Billion, and extend the life span of such loans while reducing their debt-servicing expenditures.
"The measures approved by President Buhari definitely do not include drawing down the remaining balance in the Excess Crude Account or the "liquidation" of the account as some media outlets have wrongly reported.
"No such decision has been taken or approved by President Buhari, and last week's meeting of the National Economic Council clearly concluded that the Excess Crude Account should be left untouched at this time.
