FG Borrows N600 Billion Monthly To Augment Salaries

The Federal government has again owned up to the crumbling economy of the nation, lamenting that it borrows an average of N600 billion every month to augment payment of workers’ salaries.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 63rd General Church Council (GCC) of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) held at ECWA headquarters in Jos on Tuesday, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr David Babachir Lawal, who represented President Mohammadu Buhari further lamented that the Buhari-led administration inherited a country that had been robbed to the last coffer, hence leaving an ailing economy that must be nurtured and endured for some time before its stabilizes.

He said: “the federal government borrows an average of N600 billion monthly; and Federal Government gets N130 billion, and sometimes if it is lucky, it gets N200 billion from Federation allocation, and we have an expenditure profile of roughly N800 billion to N900 billion. Naturally, you need to augment sources from everywhere and from wherever you can find it.

“I’m talking about local borrowings, not international. There are ways and means to raise the money, because the monies coming from the Federal allocation is not enough and the figures is not fixed; it varies from month to month, depending on what enters into the treasury and our own share of it federation account, just like the states.”

Credit: Thisday

Gov. Akpabio Denies Taking N600bn Loan

Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has dismissed claims that he obtained N600 billion loan to run the affairs of the state, saying the state only got N80 billion facility

The governor, however, said he had repaid about N30 billion of the debt, leaving the state with only N50 billion debt. He pledged to further reduce the debt to about N45 billion before leaving office on May 29.

Akpabio blamed the news of indebtedness on the opposition, which he said was bent on deceiving the people in order to get political power.

He said with the signing into law of the Freedom of Information Bill by President Goodluck Jonathan, those who genuinely needed information about the state’s finances could easily approach the state Ministry of Finance for details rather than being caught in the web of lies on social media.

“When we realized that the economy was going down in 2013, we decided to go for the first loan, and all we have borrowed as a state amounts to N80 billion…”

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