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Extra US$3.4billion also
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Says Nigeria is not broke
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Oil revenue to rise in 2023
By our correspondent
The Federal Government has said it has so far released a total sum of N5.03 trillion, and an extra US$3.4 billion to the state governments since inception of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed who released the figures in Abuja yesterday said it was part of the statutory role to provide financial support to states.
The Finance Minister, while speaking at the press briefing to mark the 6th edition of the Scorecard of the Buhari administration, also refuted the question as to whether or not Nigeria was broke, maintaining that the country is not broke.
She said apart from the significant increase in revenue being generated from the Non-Oil sector, the oil sector in addition is showing positive signs of recovery, and that the country will continue to generate revenue for growth. She said oil revenue is expected to rise in 2023 if the current improved production capacity is sustained.
She also debunked suggestions that the country was going for any debt relief or restructuring.
In respect of the financial assistance to states, she said 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, she said, covers the 13% Derivation Refund to Oil Producing States, refund for Construction of Federal Roads, Ecological Support, Support from the Development of Natural Resources Fund, Paris Club refunds, Support from the Stabilisation Fund, COVID intervention amongst others.
She gave a breakdown of the specifications of the support to States to include N1,978,422,189,787.76 paid as 13%derivstion to oil producing states, $2,673,657,066.19 paid as Paris Club Refund, $750,000,000.00 paid as SFTAS and N1,995,967,593,790.82 paid for other purposes.
Other payments she said included N204,244,595,861.26 for Ecological fund, N118,416,052,889.38 for Support from the Development of Natural Resources Fund, N37,000,000,000.00 for Support from the Stabilisation Fund, N50,000,000,000.00 for COVID intervention, and N50,000,000,000.00 for Promissory Notes Issued to States for refund of construction of Federal Roads. This brings it to the total of N5,032,871,571,376.22 and $3,423,657,066.19 of the financial support given to the state governments since 2015.
She also gave a highlight of the key achievements by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National planning, in line with its performance bond to include full implementation of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) by all MDAs, including Educational and Security Agencies;
A total of 723 MDAs have been enrolled into the IPPIS with an outstanding 5 MDAs from the targeted 728 yet to be enrolled;
Optimization of fiscal incentives to boost productivity in critical sectors, including Agriculture, Solid Minerals and Manufacturing;
That the Federal Government has disbursed N528,384,778,445.70 billion and supported a total of 233,974 MSMEs;
The reconciling and monitoring of monthly revenues performance – giving rise to a total of 1,700 MDAs submitting monthly revenue performance report;
Implementing Capital Markets Master Plan – The SEC recently launched a revised version of the 10-year Capital Market Masterplan in 2022 to reflect the dynamism of the market and developments in financial technology, and;
The full deployment of GIFMIS to all MDAs and extension to other arms of Government – GIFMIS has been extended to the Armed Forces of Nigeria and Other Intelligence Community. The target was 945 MDAs while the outturn was 823 MDAs.
