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States Get N649.4bn Final Paris Club Refund, Soon
The state governments in Nigeria would soon smile to the banks as the Federal Government has concluded plans to commence the final phase of the Paris Club debt refunds.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, yesterday, on the state of the economy, Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, disclosed: “The total sum of N649.434billion was verified by the ministry as the outstanding balance to be refunded to the state governments.”
She also revealed that the payments made by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as at March, 2019 stands at N691.560billion.
“The increase in CBN payments partly arose from exchange rate differential at the point of payment,” she said.
Ahmed, while not divulging the status of the states with regards to the Paris Club disbursements, noted that, “some states still have outstanding balances, which will be refunded, in due course.”
The minister also stated that a total sum of N4.8trillion was distributed to the three-tiers of government between September, 2018, and April, 2019, from the Federation Account, noting that, “the sum of N784.7billion realized from Value Added Tax (VAT) for the same period was also shared.”
Speaking on Nigeria’s growing debt profile, the minister stated, “the debt increase from N12.2trillion to N23trillion is by design.”
The Federal Government, she said “designed the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) to reflate the economy to take us out of recession when we came on board, and we made an assessment, it was clear that our country was going into recession.
“When we did a research on the best way to reverse the recession and to reflate the economy and that means putting resources in the economy so that consumption will increase.”
Based on government’s findings, she said they “designed the ERGP to borrow in the first, second and third years, and in the fourth year, the borrowing was supposed to start reducing. That is exactly what we have done.”
Defending the borrowing, Ahmed said, government “made sure that we borrowed to finance capital projects.
“At the same time we went into recession there were other countries similar to Nigeria that went into recession. Some of them are still not out of recession but because of the method we adopted.
“But the consequence, of course, is the increase in debt and that is why the Ministry of Finance and all its agencies are working to make sure that we increase revenues.”
She reiterated, “at 19.09 per cent Debt-to-GDP ratio, we still are the lowest comparative to countries like Brazil, South Africa that all have an average of 56 per cent Debt-to-GDP ratio.
“If you look at our budget, the debt-service-to-GDP ratio is 30 per cent but because revenues underperformed, it went as high as 50 per cent to 55 per cent, and in some months, up to 60 per cent. So, if our revenues perform optimally, we are in a good place as far as revenues are concerned.”
The minister said the country’s External Reserves grew from $28.3billion in 2015 to $44.69billion as at May 13, 2019.
“This represents a significant improvement that has helped to stabilize the economy, including stabilizing our exchange rates,” she stated.
Also, the Foreign Exchange (FX) market, she said, “remains relatively stable because from 2017 to now there is a significant convergence of the NIFEX and NAFEX windows and they have in fact merged by the end of November, 2018.”
Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.