Deductions on budget support facility to states commences July – NEC

The National Economic Council (NEC) says there is an agreement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to commence deductions on the budget support facility to states this month.

Gov. Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State briefed State House correspondents after the virtual NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Sule also said that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning updated the council on the state of the federation accounts.

“At today’s NEC meeting, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, made a presentation and gave us an update on the federation accounts as follows:

“The Excess Account balance as July 13 is 60.8 million dollars; Stablisation Account stands at N26.3 billion, Natural Resources Account balance stands at N23.5 billion.

“On the budget support facility that was taken by the states, in view of the current economic challenges facing the states, the CBN actually has gone into some kind of agreement to provide a bridge financing facility to the states so that deduction can commence in this July.

“This is actually to keep the accounts current and to ensure that the commercial banks which have given these loans are able to keep their books.’’

The governor said NEC also received presentations from the Group General Manager of NNPC about the current situation of the oil and gas sector.

He said that the presentation was specifically as it affected the consumption of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol in Nigeria.

“This is a product that is highly regulated in the Nigerian market and the current consumption is actually sitting at over 60 million litres per day and this is the total amount that is being subsidised on a daily basis.

“And that is eating very deeply to the financials of NNPC; to the point where NNPC is unable to meet up with several of its obligations.

“As a result of that, council actually set up a committee which is being chaired by Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.

“So, today at council, the committee was able to present its report and during the presentation, council extensively discussed the issues on the report and the council still believes that the committee needs to do additional work.’’

He said after discussions on the report, the committee was requested to prepare its final version, including comments and observations that were raised at the meeting.

Sule said that the report would be submitted to the council for further action to be taken.

“So, there has not been any action taken as far as that report is concerned today until the final copy of that report is presented so that council will deliberate further on it and will be able to make a decision,’’ he said. (NAN)