FG Poise To Disburse New Paris Club Refunds To States

The National Economic Council (NEC) is expected to authorise the release of the third tranche of the Paris Club loan refunds to State government at its next meeting. Much of the money, like the earlier refunds, is expected to be spent in settling accumulated salaries and pensions/gratuities.NEC is headed by the Vice President and has state governors, the Central Bank Governor and other key economic players as members. Buhari, meeting with a delegation of the governors earlier in the week, wondered how some of them were able to sleep at a time they could not pay their workers who end up unable to meet their financial obligations to their families.The governors’ delegation at the meeting asked for the release of the balance of the refunds. Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State said on Wednesday that the fact that the governors met Buhari to ask for the money did not mean they were begging for anything. “Don’t forget, this is money that belongs to us,” he told reporters in Abuja. “We are not begging for anything, but demanding what belongs to us, and that it should be paid to us.”Photo Credit: Getty

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