Hold Your State Accountable, They Can Pay Salaries Now, Finance Minister Reveals

It has been confirmed that a total amount of $5.4bn has been paid to states by the Federal Government for settlement of the Paris Club Refund.

The confirmation was made today by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed.

The $5.4bn when converted based on the N305 per dollar official exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria is about N1.65trn.

The Paris Club Refund was released to states in phases based on some conditions.

Some of the conditions are that salaries must be paid, states must be committed to the repayment of Budget Support Loans granted in 2016 and clearing of amounts due to the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative.

Other conditions are a commitment to clearing matching grants from the Universal Basic Education Commission where some States have available funds which could be used to improve primary education.

It would be recalled that the release of the Paris Club refund is one of the major reasons given for the recent depletion of the Excess Crude Account.

It was revealed that between November 25 and December 19, the amount in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) declined by about $1.68bn, through the statistics obtained from the Federation Account Allocation Committee.

According to the Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Finance, Mahmoud Dutse, the withdrawals were made by the Federal Government from the ECA to settle the last tranche of the Paris Club Refund.