The federal government Tuesday listed conditions for the release of the last tranche of the Paris Club refund to states, putting the outstanding at US$2.689 billion.
The government, however, kept mum on the allegation that it made a clandestine release of N16.67 billion to Osun State ahead of the September 22 governorship election in the state. Paris Club refund is a partial settlement of long-standing claims by state governments relating to over-deductions from their Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) payments for external debt service between 1995 and 2002.
In a statement issued by its Director (Information), Hassan Dodo, the Ministry of Finance said the final approval of US$2.689 billion of the Paris Club refund to the states is subject to certain conditions.
These include the states making the payment of salary and staff-related arrears a priority.
Others are: Commitment to the commencement of the repayment of Budget Support Loans granted in 2016, to be made by all states; clearing of amounts due to the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative, Commitment to clear matching grants from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) where some states have available funds which could be used to improve primary education and learning outcomes.
The payment of the approved amount, the statement stressed, is to be made in phased tranches to the states. According to the federal government, the issue of Paris Club loan over-deductions had been a long standing dispute between it and the state governments which dated back to the period between 1995 and 2002.
(ThisDay)
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