The Presidency has said President Muhammadu Buhari did not draw from the Excess Crude Account for the relief package approved for states and local governments.
Rather, the relief package was said to have come solely from the dividends earned from investment in the Nigeria Liquefied and Natural Gas Company.
This was contrary to reports in most newspapers that the relief package was from the ECA.
In a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Buhari, Femi Adesina, the Presidency said: “For the purpose of greater clarity on the matter, the measures approved by President Buhari to deal with the problem of unpaid public sector salaries in many states are as follows:
” *The sharing of the $2.1 Billion dividend paid to the Federation Account by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company;
“* A Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging from N250 Billion to N300 Billion. This will be a soft loan available to states for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries; and
” *A debt relief program designed by the Debt Management Office which will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660 Billion, and extend the life span of such loans while reducing their debt-servicing expenditures.”
Adesina said the measures approved by President Buhari definitely do not include drawing down the remaining balance in the Excess Crude Account or the “liquidation” of the account as some media outlets have wrongly reported.
He added: “No such decision has been taken or approved by President Buhari, and last week’s meeting of the National Economic Council clearly concluded that the Excess Crude Account should be left untouched at this time.”