FG Approves N28 Billion Budget Support For 35 States…Each State To Get 800 Million

The Federal Government has approved a fresh budget support loan facility for 35 states across the country. Each of the states will get N800 million totalling N28 billion to meet their salaries and other obligations. The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Thursday at the end of a meeting of the National Economic Council presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Udoma said the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; and the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had been directed to effect payments.

Udoma said the Accountant General of the Federation reported to Council that approval had been received and CBN had been directed to pay N800 million to each of the 35 states of the Federation. Only Lagos State is not taking the loan. The minister said, “The Accountant General reported to the council that approval has been received and CBN has been directed to pay N800m to each of the 35 states of the federation. “Governors expressed appreciation to the Federal Government for the restoration of the Budget Support Loan Facility for July and August 2017.” Adeosun also informed the council that the country recorded the highest amount of Value Added Tax in October with over N89 billion. She added that the target was N120 billionn monthly.

On monthly was assets and declaration scheme, she said there was progress and the list of 500 Nigerians who are believed to have under declared their assets had been obtained. The scheme will offer amnesty to all tax defaulters. The Executive Vice-Chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure was also said to have briefed the council about an homegrown proposal to the Independent National Electoral Commission for the replacement of the card readers in the conduct of elections in the country. The proposal is a made-in-Nigeria “Solar-Powered Electronic Voting System” to effectively mitigate current electronic woes. The same proposal which has already been presented to INEC is also expected to be presented to the National Assembly.

Photo Credit: Getty

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