Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says the bailout funds provided to states by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration have prevented many of them from collapsing.
He stated this while fielding questions from State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said although some states, especially those under the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had in recent times claimed that they were not gaining from the federal administration under President Buhari, Mohammed said most states, notwithstanding their political parties, had been sustained with bailouts and lifelines from the federal government.
He said no fewer than 24 states, across party lines, had demanded and received refunds from the federal government for projects done on federal roads and bridges, adding that records showed that the refunds were up to N477 billion.
He said, “I think this is a good opportunity to also let you know exactly what the federal government has done between 2015 and today, to ensure that states stay afloat. Honestly, without the federal government’s bailouts, most states would have gone under.
“Like I said, apart from these refunds that were made, I said earlier on that when we came in, 27 states could not pay salaries and the federal government had to bail those 27 states out. Not only did they give them money to pay salaries, but they also gave them bail out to pay arrears,” the minister said.
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